A Dorky Nerd for a Lonely Punk
by Ame.ten97
Summary: Nerd/punk AU. Mathias has been crushing on Lukas for a while and one day he gets a strike of good luck and ends up being partnered up with the punk that looks scary but is very lonely inside. Much Soz for the summary DenNor, Surfin and fluffy adorable HongIce
1. Chapter 1

Hello lovely people. I made this story a while ago for my sister and I'm only now posting it because she is has been nagging me for a while (COUGHCOUGH) Mimi haha

anyways, here is a dorky Dane with a punk Norwegian.

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(Mathias' POV)

Hi! My name is Mathias Køhler!

I'm just your average teenager with a high IQ and a dumb goofy face. I'm very cool and totally NOT a massive dork with thick rimmed grandpa glasses and braces... Okay, maybe I do have the thick grandpa glasses... And I occasionally drop my stuff due to my lack of attention to the hold I have on my things... Okay, the braces are coming off next week too, so...

Okay, okay, I look like the typical, dorky, geeky guy that spends too much time reading fiction and knows weird facts about life... And I might act like it too.

This is so not what I wanted to talk about though.

I kinda talk a bit much whenever I get the chance and someone actually listens.

Well you see, the topic of conversation is the guy that is currently sitting about 5.85 meters away from me? I _totally_ didn't measure it or anything. His name is Lukas— Lukas Bondevik to be precise. I know, I said he was 5.85 meters away, but it feels like he is just a completely different world away. He looks the part, too! His hair is blonde and shaved on one side. His eyes are violet, and his lashes are darker due to the mascara or heavy eyeliner it would seem. He is thin and wears dark colours. He is currently wearing a shirt that he wears a lot, so I have assumed it's his favourite shirt. Its a band merch of a Norwegian heavy metal band. The sleeves are ripped and so are his black tight pants. when I say tight I should point out that I have tried not to stare. It doesn't work with his booty is right there. He normally has some button up shirt tied to his hips when it's a bit cold. Today wasn't, so my eyes may or may not be staring at his butt when he walked by, never paying me a second thought. He was also wearing red converses today.

Well if his appearance didn't ring the 'do not talk to me 'signals, it's the chains and the piercings and maybe even the tattoos that I recognised as some old traditional patterns and a couple of dragons around his back and arms (I got this info thanks to gym classes). There was also his mysterious and silent being that just made me want to know more about him. Siiigh. That sigh was necessary.

He is perfect...

Okay so I know what you're think haha!

What the hell is a guy, that's handsome underneath the layer of geekiness, doing by going ahead and liking someone, that's completely from another world, and expecting it to someday come true?

I know, I know. It's asking for a miracle. I mean, I'm assuming he likes guys to begin with. It also is assuming that he is ever willing to be seen with nerd like me. But the thought of it makes me have the dorkiest grin ever.

"You're making that face again, Mathias. So unawesome." Gilbert's voice woke me up from my beautiful daydream where I was explaining my situation with Lukas. I grinned at him.

Awesome was his word. Gilbert was always very confident with himself. He was an albino with a big ego, I must say. He often came across as the most annoying and judgmental person ever, but when you really got to know him, he was actually sweet. His eyes often wander towards the silent music nerd in our group— that nerd being Roderich.

"Hey hey, you make that same face with a certain person." I wiggle my eyebrows at him. His face went noticeably red, and he looked away and pouted.

"I look awesome doing it though," he replied, not defeated in the least. It made me laugh to no end seeing him reply like this.

Gilbert wasn't a 'nerd' per se. His younger brother Ludwig was. Ludwig was the bookworm of the group. His brother was taller than him and more buff — we all say that it's because he's constantly lifting books. That, and picking up Gilbert when he gets bashed. Like I said, Gilbert comes across as the most annoying person ever. He has to deal with the consequences of that— the consequences being getting punched or beaten up. Ludwig often broke up the fights and got his brother out of there.

"Can we go back to the important topic?" Ludwig spoke up from behind his book.

"Hey, we need to talk about the recent disappearing of books in the ribrary." Kiku reminded us of the reason behind today's small gathering. He was a library monitor, and it appeared that there were a number of books going missing in the past month. We had confirmed it wasn't any of us in the club.

"And there must be a discussion about PDA in the hallways. Please," Arthur added. Most of the people on our small table nodded.

Our group wasn't big. It depended a lot of extra lessons, music practices, external studies, and duties. Half the group was the school council committee— hence why we would talk about PDA and stuff like that. The ones in the school committee were Arthur, Ludwig, and Alfred. Alfred had his football team to sit with. He came around a lot; though the reason for that is so 'nerds' like us don't get bullied and the likes. There is the occasional weird glance, but that's honestly who wouldn't stare if we were running around with half cosplays, dropping things and whatnot.

The others are Kiku, Berwald, Roderich, and myself. Gillbert shifts a lot from the football team to a group with Francis and Antonio. Francis was… Well, interesting to say the least. He ran the fashion club along with this guy called Feliks. They were flamboyant as hell but they were the best people you could really meet. As for Antonio, well, what I know about him is that he is head over heels in love with a feisty Italian, and that he runs the dance club. Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio call themselves the Bad Touch Trio, and often go to or host parties.

"'nk' 're you l'sten'ng?" Berwald nudged me in the ribs with his elbow.

"What? I can't understand you." I purposefully responded. Honestly, I'm trying to get you guys up to date with things and this guy- Ugh. Okay, never mind, I think I will let you guys catch on. We continued on talking.

"Right, since we are all engaged now, it's time to talk about the excessive amount of PDA around the school," Arthur said as he made a clear gesture towards Francis and Antonio.

"Hey, hey! Don't speak about Francis and 'Tonio like that!" Gilbert pouted from his seat.

"Well, they are setting a bad example for future generations and-"

"Just because you can't handle a few hugs doesn't mean you have to ban it along with the other pointless scheisse," Ludwig pointed out from his seat next to Gilbert.

"You're only saying that because your boyfriend is affectionate," Arthur bit back at Ludwig.

Berwald spoke up. "I 'gree w'th Ludwig."

"Oh, come on. How about you, Kiku?" Arthur was slowly sinking into his seat.

"I need inspiration for more manga. PDA must stay." Kiku didn't even bother looking up from his manga.

"Ughhh, fine. How about we take a poll, seeing as you guys want to talk about it, but not ban it."

The bell thankfully saved us all at that point. We all got up quick and made a dash to our next classes— by 'we', I really mean just me. I had my next class with Lukas. I had been in his classes since primary school, so was great to go to class. Seeing as his attention was never on me though, I didn't think he knew that I was in the class at all.

I sat down on my seat, waiting happily for the lesson to begin. This session was my forte. World History. I have no idea why, but it had always come naturally to me. It was wonderful. Of course Lukas was great but he was better at physics and maths. Everyone started arriving to class. Then the teacher came in, right on the bell. And, last but not least, Lukas walked in. He was glaring so no one decided to tell him off for being late to class. He was usually late anyways.

"Alright class, seeing as everyone is here today, I will begin the lesson by giving you all an important announcement."

As soon as the teacher said the words 'special announcement', I became a bit nervous. I didn't have friends in this class so it made me worry. I ended up working alone most of the time. I didn't really like it but history is my thing. The excitement from everyone was buzzing about.

"You will be given a partner who which you will work with for the rest of the year. You are also forced to sit next to the said person in all classes, as for this class. You will work on an assignment that is worth 60% of your final mark in the subject. The exam will only be 30% and homework will be 10%."

The class gasped at the news. Everyone began complaining and talking all at once. My face began to get pale. 60% of my mark would be this assignment. 60% depended on my ability to work with someone. I was screwed beyond belief. I was completely spaced out until the teacher called my name.

"Mathias Køhler." I looked up at the teacher. "You are partners with Lukas Bondevik." And the heavens called out to me and I was suddenly religious as hell. I looked back at Lukas who was sitting in the back of the class. He didn't look pleased— then again, he almost never did. Just in quiet places. I didn't notice that everyone in the room was sorta staring at the two of us. I was too busy thinking of how lucky I was, and how willing I was to work with someone now. Everyone was giving me a pity stare. I didn't care.

The teacher broke the silence."Well, sit next to your partner."

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Thanks to Vermillon Jay for being a wonderful beta reader~

Thanks for reading~  
I'm going to be uploading what I can in the next few weeks. end of year exams are killing me. So yea

I hope you enjoyed it and yell at me in the comments if you want to see a particular pairing other than DenNor! Also tell me who you think should be punk with Lukas :D

||Ame


	2. Chapter 2

(Mathias' POV)

Okay, so just a quick fill-in. I'm currently trying not to drop anything or look too eager. You know, like playing it cool. Why? Hahaha because God has answered my prayers and I'm now being partnered up with Lukas, aka my all time crush, aka Mr. Perfect, aka the reason I'm clumsy in most classes, aka the reason I can't stop grinning like a goofball.

I picked up my stuff and moved to the back. Lukas shifted his leg from the chair to the floor so I could sit. I got really nervous as I put my books down, taking the seat next to him. "U-uh.. Hi, I'm Mathias. Nice you meet you." I extended my hand out to greet him. I must have looked funny because he have me an odd look. He took my hand anyways. His hand was a little smaller than mine and a lot thinner now that I realise.

Was there a spark? I don't know, but I felt like my body was screaming at me, so maybe there was.

"Lukas," he responded, though his gaze was elsewhere. There was a lingering smell of tobacco and cinnamon around him. There was an ice minty scent too. Maybe he was chewing gum? I fight back the urge to cough because of the smell of lingering smoke and tobacco. Did I mention I'm horribly asthmatic?

The lesson continued on and the tasks were handed out. The task we got was to make a website for children to inform them of a time period of a country. Lukas and I –oh, I did like that– Lukas and I were given viking history. At first this all seemed like easy junior school stuff, but it wasn't until the teacher handed us all a booklet of web coding and other on history. That's when I realised with would be a lot harder than expected. We had to make the website from scratch. It left everyone actually doing work for a bit and casually chatting away.

I turned to Lukas. He didn't look any bit happy about the amount of work that was getting given to us. "U-um Lukas?" His gaze turned to me. It was chilly and hard. I almost forgot my question. Hell, I almost forgot my name.

"U-uhh well... So, how are we going to do this? Should we take turns going to each other's houses or the library?" I looked down at the floor blushing.

"You take half, I'll take half." I looked down at my books, feeling a bit sad. I mean, seriously. I'm thinking about those sappy movies. You know, the late nights. Me. Him. Alone. Library.

"What about when the work needs to be put together?" He looked at me now. His eyes were distant, like he wasn't really expecting a serious answer.

"Do you really want to be seen with the likes of me?" His voice was laced with sarcasm. It was like the concept of them being in the same room was funny on its own.

"Well, yeah. This assignment is pretty important. Besides does it look like I really care? Hahaha."

He just stared at me and snorted looking away before I could see him smirk just a bit. "Fine. But you aren't coming to my house."

I grinned broadly. It was really hard not to. I got to spend time with the guy I had liked for ages. This was a miracle.

"That's fine. My parents are always off at work or meetings anyways. So they wouldn't bug us." He looked away again. I sighed a bit with a grin on my face. It must have looked odd.

~after school~

So, after school was always fun— well, except for the lockers. The lockers here were a pain to get to, since everyone was trying to cram into the halls and rush out. I almost always dropped my stuff. I went to my locker when the hall was half empty. Quickly opening my locker, I dumped my books inside, took out my bag and started stuffing it with my books. My locker wasn't the neatest, but it didn't have any food in it, so that always helped.

"Hey, Mathias." I turned around to see Lukas there with his torn up jacket and black, worn messenger bag. I blush a bit and grin at him. He remembers my name! Guys, _he _remembers my name! I honestly feel like a girl for feeling this giddy. It caused me to blush more out of embarrassment.

"Hey, what's up?" His beautiful eyes just stared at me blankly. He shifted his bag a bit and handed me a note.

"It's my phone number. I figured you would need it if we are going to be working on that assignment." I took the paper and instantly got my phone out. This really felt great. Like my stomach apparently decided it was time to make me feel like I was stuck in a roller coaster.

"So did you want mine?" I looked up at him. He was glaring up ahead. I noticed a younger boy with white hair wearing very hipster looking clothes. You know what I mean. The typical flannel plaid shirt, black jeans, maroon beanie and a bag that was easily spotted due to its uniqueness? Well, the boy must have been young, like 13 or so, and he was currently being surrounded by a group of seniors.

"Text me later. I need to deal with something at the moment." He walked out with an aura that screamed 'RUN!' His focus was on the seniors surrounding the young boy. Was that boy important to Lukas? They looked similar so maybe they were related.

"Hey Mathias!" I couldn't look away from the scene that was unfolding outside, but from the voice I could tell it was probably Alfred. I tutored him on the weekends so we often ended up playing video games and whatnot.

"H..hey Alfred." My attention was clearly not on him when I said that. I felt his gaze go from me to where I was looking. The seniors were clearing themselves away from the younger boy as soon as Lukas got to him. The boy seemed relieved, and Lukas looked pissed off.

"Is Lukas giving ya trouble?" I snapped out of my trance. What was the question?

"Huh?" I simply answered. I turned to look at Alfred who had an out of character concerned frown.

"Is Lukas giving ya trouble? You know, because you seemed out of it, and you staring at him." I snorted. Was he giving me trouble? Well, yes, but it was a trouble with concentration that Lukas wasn't even aware of.

"No, no. I was just wondering who that guy was with white hair," I said as I stared back to where Lukas and the younger boy were currently looked like they were talking about something serious.

"Oh yeah, that's Emil, Lukas' younger brother. They're under different names, but they're brothers. Emil has been getting a lot of shit lately from the seniors. You know, the three bullies." Oh, I knew them too well. Since we were the year below them, they spent most of our first year being shits and whatnot. It made me feel bad that poor Emil now needed to suffer along.

"So Lukas is fending them off?" I asked unconsciously.

"Well, duh! It's his brother! He is even more protective over Emil than I am over Mattie!" I turned to him in surprise. How did Alfred know so much about Lukas?

"Matthew is friends with Emil. They talk a lot so they give out these comments from time to time." Alfred shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta be off for football practise! You better hurry, or you'll be late for science club!"

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Thanks to all the lovely reviews on the last chapter!I enjoyed reading through them

Again, Vermillion is to thank for this story making sense!

Thank you for reading~

||Ame


	3. Chapter 3

(Luka's POV)

"Get up."

I woke up to my father kicking the end of my bed. I glared at him and got up. He was glaring down at me.

Where were you yesterday?" he questioned me menacingly. I sighed and sat up.

"Is this really what you wake me up for?" I winced as a loud hard strike blow to my face was given. My father's rage was always violent. This was him trying to contain it. I hated him. I couldn't even leave the house for school without him beating me up for it later. It was emotionally and mentally draining. Holding my face and waiting for him to stop yelling at me, my thoughts tried to cool themselves down.

When he finally left I went into my bathroom and washed my face. I stared at my reflection for a moment. The dark bags under my eyes from my insomnia were pretty seriously dark. My eye looked dead and my skin was sickly pale. My hair was a mess. My swelling cheek was becoming a deep red now. The frustration was too great. If it bruised then it would be hard to cover it up. It made me hate myself that bit further.

Off to the shower it was. I grabbed a maroon button up shirt with some old worn out black jeans, briefs and socks. I dumped them all on my bathroom floor and went to remove my black converse from under my bed. I checked the time and cursed under my breath. We would be late to school at this point. Stress took over and hurried along to find my things and placed them in the bathroom. I quickly stripped and jumped into the shower.

The cold water hitting me was relaxing on my face but the rest of my body hissed. My pale arm reached for the hot water and then the shower hissed. The hot water then burned through the ice cold water.

An hour passed and I was ready for school. I left without a single word to my father or a piece of toast for breakfast. My situation was more complicated than that of most people in my age group. The majority of them had something comforting to go back to from school. Maybe they had a pet, or peace and tranquillity. That was not the case for my brother and I.

Home was like any other place. The sense and warmth of a family had long faded and vanished with no return. All that was left was the cold distance between an alcoholic and his two sons. There was no comfort done by either side. There was just an abyss that dug itself deeper with every strike given. Silence was thick. Interaction was only done with harsh coldness. One could only drown in the sea of their own suffering in that house. I hated it more than the violence.

"Lukas!" I turned to the sound of Emil's voice. He was running to catch up. I sat on my bike outside of the house. He was carrying his bag that was half open with books in it and some pages threatening to slip out.

"I thought you had left already." I looked at him. He was texting someone. I sighed out of frustration. "Hurry up, we are going to be late." Staring at my watch it was only five minutes before the first bell went and we were still outside the house. He closed his bag and put on the spare helmet I always bring along with me. He sat behind me and grabbed on tight and I practically sped out.

To say that we were late was an understatement. I managed to get Emil into his class without trouble however I had detention to attend now. That would be the fourth time this week. Sighing, I left the main office with a green slip. It was practically morning break now. I had missed out on a double of maths. Great.

Walking in the crowded hallway wasn't the most pleasant thing. I guess my bad reputation did help in that case— it made people move out of the way. Today, I wasn't up for bullshit to begin with. After a bit of walking around, I got to my locker and dumped my stuff inside. My locker was fairly neat most of the time. I decided to take out my wallet and lighter and go to where I usually sit with Tino and Yao.

When I got to the table I saw the usual. Tino and Yao sitting there probably talking about music and bands. It seemed that today would be no different from the rest of the usual days. At least that's what I had decided it would be, despite knowing the infinite possibilities.

"Like I said their music is amazing." Yao had one earphone in one ear and the other was in Tino's ear. Tino nodded concentrated on the music. They both looked up as I took my seat in front of them.

"One Ok Rock again?" I asked, almost certain. Yao grinned a little. He had been converting people as of late. The band was Japanese, and Kiku had the blame for converting Yao into a fan to begin with. They were siblings, so they shared a lot of things.

"They are amazing." Tino stared into space with sparkle in his eyes. Both of these two and myself, dressed in a lot of blacks, reds, blues and the occasional whites. We were what people classified as 'punk/goth', which, I would like to point out now, aren't the same thing. They are two different styles that had a few common areas but it was like saying maths and biology were the same.

Tino was wearing a grey Apocalyptica shirt with ripped black jeans that had a few chains on them and black combat boots. Today he was toned down a fair bit. He was only wearing a few of his piercings. He had three on his ear lobe and two on his left eyebrow.

Yao had a different style. Since he was lucky enough to be able to travel to Asia a lot he could get tattoos over there and so he had a few on his back and arms. He didn't have piercings but Tino was still trying to convince him to get one. Today, he wore a leather shirt and black jeans along with a black sleeveless studded collar jacket. As for shoes, he was wearing black combat boots as well.

As for myself, I had both tattoos and piercings. I had the same piercings as Tino with the addition of a few lip piercings and a nose piercing. My back and arms had tattoos neatly planned out.

I worked to pay for these all on my own. It was a rare luxury now that dad didn't have a job. Emil and I both worked for the food and bills whilst 'Dad' blew his money on booze and God knows what else. I worked everyday, and on the weekends I would work at two different places. Emil only worked Wednesday through Friday, and studied the rest of the week. He was still young and despite our situation, I wanted him to be able to go out with his friends and to make something better of himself. So, I took up the responsibility of making money and he took care of the house and studied.

"Lukas? Are you okay?" Tino's concerned face stared at my blank one. Yao had a similar expression. I vaguely nodded and dismissed the subject. I didn't often voice the troubles I have. They were all spoken but only rang in my mind with echoes that turn into pitiful silent cries that are only ever heard in my head.

"What class do we have next?" I asked, quickly changing the subject, showing no interest in talking about the previous one. Tino frowned a little, but hummed as he tried to remember.

"History aru." My phone beeped just as Yao had answered. I took it out and saw it was a message from a number I didn't recognise. Two stares were on me. As I looked up, I saw both Tino and Yao looking at me with faces of curiosity. It was the 'oooooh~who is it?' face. I simply shrugged and open the message.

Hello Lukas

This is Mathias Kolher (/O3O)/

You know, the geek you're paired with.

I was wondering if you were at school today

(Since you weren't in maths and stuff -)

I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you

But I want to know so I can get work sheets or notes for you and stuff =u=

Anyways I shall return to being a weirdo~

Have a nice day if I don't get to see you

I stared blankly at my screen and took a couple of blinks before biting my lips together, trying not to laugh at the oddness of the message. Sniggers betrayed me and escaped. The other two at the table watched completely surprised if not shocked by the response. Maybe today would be different after all.

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Thanks for reading!~

||Ame


	4. Chapter 4

(Mathias' POV)

I don't know what was going on at the moment. The hallway was sorta crowded and there was a lot of noise. There must be a fight happening. Fights aren't that rare at school, but they aren't that common either. I don't really care much for fights. It's best to avoid them when you are labelled as a nerd.

Not because we are weak. HA. No, no, we avoid it because we don't need the world knowing of the many battle cries that you can make when you take a swing at your opponent. Like I have mentioned, we lift books all day. We have more muscle than one takes us for. We just uhhh choose not to use it for dangerous sports like football or soccer. Very dangerous. Some of us do, butttt not me.

Anyway, so back to what I'm currently doing: avoiding possible fights and getting through a crowded hallway. Passing a few people and getting shoved about isn't great, but it had to be done. I was on my way to the library after all.

Out of the corner of my eyes I see a fist being thrown at someone. I don't think much of it but, then curiosity got the best of me and I turned to see it was Berwald's crush punching one of those bullies that no one really likes. In the face. Without second thoughts.

Here is a thing. We don't mess with them because they aren't to be messed with. Last time someone did, they ended up in the hospital, and rumours spread about them faster than the common cold. There were three of them and they messed with whoever they want. One of them was called Daniel. He was the tallest one with brown hair and freckles. He was always sorta slouched. Then there was Kevin. He made the stupidest comments you could imagine. He also had brown hair but it was darker than Daniel's. And then, there was the short one that was the one who ignited the flame. His name was Terry. He always looked smug, like he's got something on you, but I don't think so.

So, Tino and Kevin, by the looks of it, were staring at each other with dark auras around them. I had never seen Tino that angry. From what I have seen and heard Berwald say, he is usually the type of guy that smiles a lot and wouldn't start trouble. It looked like built-up pressure being released by the way they were glaring. The crowd even felt the tension. Yao pushed through the crowd with Ivan Braginski and stood between them.

"Perhaps we can talk later then," Kevin said calmly.

Tino glared at him. "I'm not talking to you, and don't you dare hurt them." He fixed his shirt and left the scene.

The crowd dispersed all at once. Everyone was mumbling and whatnot. _Don't hurt them_, he had said. Those were odd words to say, but it made me too curious for my own good. Then I remembered that I was rushing to the library to meet with Lukas. Weird happenings would be diverted with quality time with Lukas.

-Meanwhile with Yao, Tino and Ivan-

"What were you thinking?" Yao scowled at Tino with worried expression. Tino kept walking furiously towards their table in the cafeteria. He sat down and rubbed his face. Yao sat down next to him, and Ivan stood behind Yao.

"He was talking about messing with Lukas and Emil again. He said if I got involved, he would start shit with me." Tino sighed a little. Yao and Ivan looked at him worried.

"I could help. I could get my pipe—"Yao stopped Ivan in the middle of his sentence.

"It's not wise to add fuel to the fire. We just need to wait until the right moment," he proposed, a bit wary.

"Thanks for the offer though, Ivan." Tino thanked Ivan. The two had had a bad history, but they'd still managed to get things fixed and be on speaking terms.

"No problem. Friends look after friends," Ivan replied with a smile.

Alfred came in, running straight at them, with Arthur not too far behind. Arthur looked like he had run a marathon whilst Alfred was bouncing with excitement like a child on Christmas morning.

"Hey dudes, heard the news you punched Kevin! Sick, bro!" He patted Tino on the back. Tino smiled awkwardly. You really couldn't do anything in that position. It felt great to be able to punch someone that had tormented kids since grade school.

"Jesus, Alfred, how many times have I told you off for running in the hallways?" Arthur huffed out as he finally caught up to him.

"About 137… This week… And it's only Tuesday, sooo... Not as many times as last week," Alfred replied with a grin. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Git."

His attention shifted to Tino, who flinched a bit. He knew he would get into trouble, but he really didn't think it was fair.

"Well, I suppose I'm supposed to be handing you this note with your detention time on it." Arthur took out a slip of paper from his pocket. Tino sighed, ready to face the detention teacher.

"Oh come oooon, Dude! That punch was totally fair, and it looked super painful too!" Alfred complained.

"Oh hush up, I'm not finished," Arthur scolded Alfred yet again. He sighed and ripped the paper up. Tino looked shocked but relieved. "After some persuasion and history checks, I managed to pull some strings." Alfred looked like he was about to interrupt. "…With some help from Alfred."

Tino looked at the pair and smiled. "Thanks guys. It means a lot."

Alfred chuckled and patted him on the back. "No problem, dude!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "It's not really us that you should thank." He tilted his head toward Berwald that was sitting at a table nearby with the rest of the 'nerds'. Even if he was sitting there, he didn't really look like he would be one to talk much. Tino stared at him a little curiously. "He was rather persuasive." Arthur added.

"Oh, Ivan, man, you coming to practise tonight?" Alfred seemed to be back to his talking about football.

Tino spaced out, still curious. He knew they were partners but they didn't really talk much. He never thought that a simple friendly 'hello', a smile, and his failed attempts to talk to that guy would get him out of a possible suspension— he was thankful for that.

* * *

-In the library-

[Lukas POV]

"So, I got started on some cool research about the Vikings," Mathias said excitedly, whilst he followed me around the aisles of books in my search for something worth reading about.

"I found some old books in my dad's library. They are super handy and stuff." He babbled on I simply nodded and listened anyways. It didn't hurt to know what kind of family he was from. His clothes were always neat and clean so I could guess he had a nice home. Ah, again with the wandering mind.

"They had some cool stuff about their battles and how they lived. It was so cool. I think there was an actual blood stain on the page." How did he even have so much to say about a book he found in his dad's library? It was hard enough to know how to properly say 'hello' to someone, yet this guy could probably recite a personal memoir in under 5 minutes. Not saying that he doesn't have much to say that's personal, he just talks so much. It's kind of annoying, but amazing at the same time.

"So, what are you looking for?" His attention was now fully on me. I needed to look at what aisle I was in, because I had no idea what I was doing. I had spaced off thinking about how much this guy talked. Great.

I shrug a bit. "A book." I was in the maths section it seemed. The History of Maths. Maths: the Modern Edition. I internally laughed inside at the title of these books. Mathias chuckled a bit.

"Are you looking for maths books?" He asked curiously. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. It's not that I didn't like maths, I just didn't want to admit that his talking made me space out. I'm still not admitting to that.

"Well, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help." He always sounded happy, but now he seemed even happier than before. I turned to stare at him. He didn't just sound happy, he looked it too. Why was he so happy? He seemed to suddenly become nervous and began fidgeting with the book he was carrying. "I-I mean, if that's okay with you." I raised an eyebrow. I wasn't not sure if I was skeptical or surprised. Normally people didn't even try to say a quarter of what he had to me.

"I don't really mind." I replied, a bit happy that he was willing to talk to me, I suppose. He blinded me with his radiant smile before bouncing about and suggesting novels. I didn't know what had happened, but that guy had so much to talk about, and such a nice smile. I could feel myself blush, so I looked away as he was talking about a novel.

"So, what do you think?"

I looked up at him. I had no idea what he had been talking about for the past 5 minutes? I lost track of time. "I don't know.." I answered to be polite. This poor guy had been explaining to me what the book was about and I wasn't listening. I knew if it was me I would probably leave. I could see his slight disappointment in his eyes. I sighed and grabbed the book he was about to put back. "I'll give it a try." He smiled happily once again, only this time it seemed so much sweeter. I stared at him for a bit and sighed before heading off to one of the tables.

_His smile never left that day._

* * *

Things are getting heated~

SuFin is also getting started. I'm debating whether to have subtle Rochu or not. Next chapter will probably have some HongIce. I'm also debating whether USUK or FrUk but either way I love both ships so I might write one in this series and the other in _Mischief._

I'm sorry for the slow updates TT 3 TT

I have been having the biggest writer's block and can't think.

Alas, I'm back now and should be back to updating frequently... _should be._

_(TT 7 TT)9_

||Ame


	5. Chapter 5

[Emil's POV]

"Hey look, it's the baby," I could hear Terry call out as I was rushing to my next class. I kept my head down and continued walking. It wasn't not any different from any other day. They made fun of the way I look, and anything I said and did. There was apparently no way to do things the right way without being criticised. Believe me, I had tried.

"Where are you rushing to? Your brother?" Daniel called out. People began spreading around to clear the way for them. I stood out a fair bit, I will give them that. It's not like I could pick what I wore. My family wasn't exactly rich so most of what I had were hand-me-downs from my brother. We both worked, but there was still not enough to go around. I didn't blame my brother for the clothes; I blame my father for leaving us in debt.

"Look at him. He's so weak." Kevin snickered at my attempts to blend into the crowd. It was always like this. And it probably shouldn't have bothered me, but it does. I wasn't strong like my brother. I was not as hard working as him. I wasn't as scary when I got angry. When you have a sibling that does so much for you, and still manages to do anything to make you feel like you are worth something, it's hard to look at yourself as strong.

I quickly turned the corner and got into my class. I sat in the back, and quickly pulled out my books and notes. I tried to focus on my work, but it was hard knowing that when I walked out of that door, I would be harassed and bullied until I got home, where there was more yelling and violence than on TV. There was never peace, and my voice was more silent than the library after school.

"Hey there, Emil." Leon's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. His smile made me temporarily forget of my worries. He was the column that hoisted me off the chaotic ground. He made my worries go away. He was the only one I allowed to tease me and the only one I was sad to bid good night to. He was my best friend and I loved him so much.

"Hey, I'm surprised you made it to class early." I smirked a little. I could feel myself relax. He sat next to me, smiling and shaking his head. See, normally we are both very expressionless, but in times like this, we smile.

"I got a ride to school from my brother," Leon replied opening up his textbooks. We were currently in Literature, which meant a lot of reading and watching films. It was tons of fun, but a lot of work.

"Hmm, I see," I answered, looking outside. It was so wonderful out there, far away, where there was no trouble or conflict. Maybe one day Leon and I would be able to breathe fresh air without a worry on us. His hand brushed past mine and I looked towards him. He was looking at the board. I glanced down at our hands, and under his was a note. My fingers slid the note out of his hand and opened it.

_I got you a present. You can't be guilty over it. I know you will like it so like yeah._

I glanced at him a little anxiously. I had always felt guilty when my friends bought me things. I couldn't even buy them anything in return, and it made me uncomfortable. Leon knew this. However, he continued to spoil me with gifts from time to time— time to time was way too much though. How I wished I could possibly give him a present worth all he has given me. I knew there wouldn't be. Not even the most expensive jewel could compare. He had saved me from so much. Ugh, I could feel myself blush. I took the paper and took a pen out. I started scribbling on it with my messy cursive writing.

_You are amazing sometimes, you know? What did you buy now? Please don't tell me you're going to get in trouble for this._

I discretely moved my hand next to his, and his fingers took hold of the note. His hands were warm. Usually we would text, but in Lit, the teacher was like a hawk, and thought that technology was the reason the English language was being butchered. So she would take away phones from students. Phones were expensive and I couldn't afford to get mine taken away. So we were old fashioned like that and pass notes to each other. It was so nice, though. It reminded me of letters. He knew I liked handwritten letters but emails were more efficient. He snorted when he read the note and started writing on it.

_It's okay hon, I'm your sugar daddy ;3 I got your body pillow. Want some massages with that? ;P _

Instantly I covered my mouth and put my head down on the desk. He and I normally teased each other like this. It was funny, and a lot of the time it felt like it came naturally. I could hear him snickering. I was trying my best to stop myself from laughing about the image in my head. I grabbed the note and flipped it over to the other side, since there wasn't any more space on the front.

_I just imagined you as a 30 year old man handing me a shit ton of gifts. Thanks, I'm now mentally scarred, wow. Oh god though. I'm looking forward to that body pillow. And those massages are very welcomed ;3_

I quickly slipped the note into his pocket as the teacher was walking around. I went back to reading my novel and taking down quotes. The teacher walked past our desk. Leon quickly took out the note from his pocket and read it, shaking head whilst silently chuckling.

-lunch time-

Leon and I made our way to the soccer field to sit with our group. Our label was 'the otakus'. So, we had a fairly small group, and we were spread throughout the other groups most of the time. Our group mainly consisted of Elisabeta, Mei, Kiku, Berwald, Leon and I. Sometimes Yao (my brother's friend, and Leon's brother) would join us. Most of the group was into yaoi and fan service. The main rule to the group was not to shove your ship in someone else's face.

We had managed to make our way down to the field talking about Lit class. Mei and Kiku seemed to be having another ship feels time. They stopped as they saw us walking towards them. Mei grinned and Kiku served tea to the two of us.

"Those two look like a married couple sometimes." Leon whispered to me. I grinned, but I knew that Mei was trying to get Kiku with Heracles. Kiku saw her as a sister, or a good friend at most. They were great friends though.

"Well, the real married couple would be us. Right sugar daddy?" I teased him. He turned red. I began to laugh. Mei and Kiku watched curiously as we sat down.

"What's so funny?" Mei asked, tilting her head a little.

"I got him a body pillow." Leon answered.

"And then he declared himself as my sugar daddy and I accepted." I finished (the summary of what had happened) for him. Mei squealed and giggled. Kiku also seemed excited. I looked at Leon, who was rolling his eyes and slightly pink at the cheeks. Kiku handed us the tea he had served.

"So, are you guys the married couple of the group?" Mei asked, grinning. I blushed and sipped my tea. Leon seemed to be confused as to what he should say.

"Yeah, as soon as he finishes planning the wedding." I replied .

Leon almost choked on his tea, but Mei and Kiku seemed to think it was hilarious. I simply patted his back to help with the choking.

"Does that mean we are engaged?" Leon asked teasingly.

"Totally," I replied in a joking tone of voice, sipping on more tea.

"Wow, that escalated quickly. From sugar daddy to husband in like an hour and a bit." Leon remarked. Mei giggled.

"Oh, did you guys finally put a ring on it?" Elisabeta joined in. She smiled at us. Leon hugged me and I hugged him back. It always felt comfortable like this with Leon.

"Oh, yeah." I nodded in agreement.

Ah, the usual antics of the group. It was comfortable and supportive. We did say and do some things that weren't exactly heterosexual, but hell, I knew I wasn't exactly straight. Leon wasn't either. It was a very open and accepting group. Like a home with a complete family included.

"Hey, Emil, have you eaten?" Mei asked. We were eating and discussing the recent updates in Black Butler, the Free! fandom, and the usual fandom and fanfic discussion and support group. Yes, we knew it sounded bad, but that's because it was bad.

"Oh, my brother is getting that for me," I replied quickly. They were normally feeding me heaps of food if Lukas didn't bring me lunch. Mei and Elisabeta were like older siblings and almost like mothers, so they didn't like to see me go without food. Leon also nagged me about it. I was glad they paid attention to something like that, though.

"Oh look, he is coming here," Elisabeta pointed out.

Lukas was coming from the canteen probably. He had a guy with him. I hadn't seen him with my brother before. It made me both curious and anxious. I normally got anxious with new people. He looked super nice though.

"Your brother looks pissed off," Leon commented. I nodded. Lukas was probably getting tired of the talking. He wasn't the best at talking— especially not with strangers.

"Hey, Mathias. Hello, Lukas," Elisabeta greeted them. Ah, so his name was Mathias.

I stared at the two. Lukas waved hello to the group and handed me a container with a slice of lasagna and garlic bread.

"Hey, guys. How is it going?" Mathias asked the group. The group reacted with nods. He seemed like the exact opposite of my brother. I found it funny.

"Oh, just talking about fandoms and stuff. So, are you guys friends?" Elisabeta answered. I could almost see my brother physically stiffen at the question. Mathias on the other hand smiled with the tiniest hint of a blush.

"Well, we are (just) class partners, but I would like to be," he replied with a grin. I could see Mei and Kiku shipped it. Leon was also giving me a knowing look. Lukas looked a mixture of embarrassed and curious.

"If he lets you follow him around, you are his friend," I piped up. Lukas looked ready to strangle me, but I grinned. Mathias went from happy to hyper happy in less than two seconds. The group giggled. Lukas sighed defeatedly.

Mathias sat next to me and grinned. "I'm sorry we weren't introduced before. I'm Mathias Kølher. You must be Emil! Nice to meet you." He shook my hand. Well, he was a nice guy. He definitely contrasted my brother's personality.

"Nice to meet you, Mathias. Thank you for taking care of him." I replied. He blushed a little and chuckled. Lukas groaned in annoyance. Leon snickered a little bit.

"Well—" Mathias was cut off by Lukas dragging him off. I watched the two leave. Mathias waving at us as they did.

"I ship it." Elisabeta exclaimed.

_Ah, family feels closer everyday._

* * *

Emil bby is liking the teasing!

Also Leon's POV will be explained soon! all i can say is that these bbys are adorable.

I ended up writing this before school and my sister gave me some ideas and finished it off after school. TT w TT i thank Mimi for the ideas and ZanyAnimeGirl for the review~

||Ame


	6. Chapter 6

[Arthur's POV]

As a member of the student council, my reputation meant the world. I was a role model to younger students, I was the student that has all the staff's trust, and I was that kid that your parents wanted you to act like, but you knew it was too much work. But, boy, did I take pride in those facts alone.

I'm not saying I liked my advantages all the time. Advantages meant responsibilities. For example, the week prior, I'd had to tell off Francis for flirting way too much, Alfred for dirtying up the hallways with his football runners (they should call it handball, to be honest), Gilbert for picking fights and the Three Idiots of the School for bullying the student body. There was also the fact that if the janitor wasn't there, the cleaning had to be done by us, the student council. However, most of the time, it was great.

It also meant that I had to give up a lot that others had. Things like relationships, friendships and a social life were restricted or non-existent. They always had to be thought about twice, especially friendships and relationships. Not that relationships mattered at the moment. Apart from Francis, no one flirted with me. And Alfred was always very sweet (not like I would ever say that to him) when he wasn't being his annoying self, so I considered him a friend. Lately, I think Alfred was also flirting, but I wasn't sure, and it wasn't like I could ask Kiku or anyone to help me figure it out.

"Hey there, smartie pants. Whatcha up to?" Alfred caught me off guard. He had always had a habit of giving me some ridiculous nickname when he caught me in a thinking moment. By then, you would think he would have known that I hated nicknames, yet it would seem he didn't give a flying damn about it.

"For the last time, Alfred— it's Arthur, not some ridiculous nickname you came up with on the spot. Now, what is it? I'm busy." I huffed a bit at the end of my sentence. I really was busy. I had a lot of papers to photocopy and staple up on the bulletin boards around the campus.

He laughed a bit. "Well, I wanna know if you're free this Friday." I glanced at him. He was looking at me already. Not like looking his way made him look away, if anything it made him smile at me. His smile was warm.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked him, clicking the photocopy machine buttons to print more copies of the school's winter dance coming up. I could see him fidget with his sleeve in my peripheral vision.

"Just wondering if you were coming to the game." Oh, so that was what it was about. I smirked a bit and then bit my lip.

"I don't know. We'll see," I answered, not looking at him. In reality, I was free as one could be. Like I mentioned before, I only had one other friend that wasn't Alfred. I suppose Francis counted too since I spent way too long giving him advice on how to behave like a gentleman and he practised his pickup lines on me every time he saw me.

"Aww, come on! You always say that and never come," he complained, as usual.

I rolled my eyes. I had to admit that it was rather fun taunting Alfred like this. Something about it was just so entertaining, but annoying at the same time.

"Angleterrrree~ Mon cheri, are you in distress?" Francis' annoying voice pulled me out my thoughts and I could feel my happy and calm attitude shatter into fragments and dust. He also had a billion nicknames for me, and his most popular one was Angleterre (England). Why on god's name? I had no idea. I would think it was because I'm from there... So that must be it? I turned to see Francis next to Alfred, staring at us.

"Hey, Francis! What's new?" Alfred turned to him with the same warm smile as before. Oh, was he like this with everyone? I mean, I wasn't surprised. Alfred had heaps of friends. I guess I was just.. disappointed? I didn't know how to feel about this discovery. Should I feel anything about this? Was I not supposed to restrict myself, anyway?

"Nothing mon amour~ just trying to find mon cheri~" I rolled my eyes. I was getting irritated and bitter. Alfred turned to me and then looked back at Francis. Maybe I was feeling jealous? No, that was absurd. I didn't get jealous. It was a stupid feeling that I would never feel.

"Oh, what for?" Alfred asked, curious. Francis smirked and glanced at me. Oh, that look made me angry. It was a mixture of seductive and charming. Two words I would never call him.

"Well, mon amour, I was going around to ask about the French festival this Friday. I was wondering if _Arthur_ would go to go with me." I felt every part of me freeze and scream at the same time. And then I realised they were both staring at me. Oh, bugger. I swore I would choke them to death. Who was I thinking of now? Ugh, my brain was a mess. Did he say Friday?

"Arthur?" Francis whispered in my ear. Never did I think I would jump out of my skin today, I was proven wrong.

"Hang on, he can't. He is coming to my game on Friday!" Alfred walked forward. I was stuck in between these two. Oh bloody hell, why did this happen when I needed to staple things?

"Is that true, mon cheri? You don't even like football." Who did he think he was? I liked it enough to sit through a game of it. Did I know the rules? Well, that was a different story. Alfred turned to me with and upset face. Why me?

"Oh shush, you don't know what I like and don't like." I defended myself, and tried to change Alfred's face. It's so upsetting and it honestly made me feel guilty for not knowing what American football was about. It was just not my cup of tea.

"Honhonhon that's not trueee~ I pay attention, you know." To this, I was not sure if I blushed because I was angry or if it was something else. Knowing that Francis was watching me was sort of creepy but, I suppose it was sweet? Hell, like I know anymore.

"Either way, he is coming to my game right?" Alfred grabbed my left arm. Well, uhh. There really wasn't a logical way to explain him holding my arm. I just shouldn't have even thought at that point, but my brain decided to anyway.

"Non, he is coming to the festival with me." Francis took my other arm. Why was I in the middle of this constantly-arguing human sandwich? It didn't help that they were taller than me. I suppose it was warm, but that was completely irrelevant right now.

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH!" I yelled, just about done with the two of them. They both loosened their grip on me, and stared at me for my final answer. Seeing as this was getting nowhere but argument I decided to sigh, grab my papers, and leave. I didn't have the time or the patience to deal with these two idiots in one short space of time. It wasn't like I could accept one and decline the other. The festival sounded appealing but Alfred's game was asked about first. I left without an answer to either. My decision would bite my ass later, but I could handle it. I was part of the student council, after all.

Ah, what mess had I gotten myself into, though?

* * *

[Mathias' POV]

It was raining. The lovely summer days were gone and the chilling winter breeze had begun settling in, but not before autumn broke the two apart. Lukas and I were in the library our first two sessions of the day. It was English and our teacher wanted us to find and read other texts of our choice. Mainly, to clear our minds of what we know is bound to happen during winter (finals!), but it was also to have better references in our essays.

The library was rather large and a bit rowdy. The shelves rose high from ceiling to floor. The books ranged from fiction to non-fiction, and classics had their own section. The computers were also there, but on a separate section to allow readers to avoid the loudness of the kids that used websites to log onto blocked pages. It reminded me that there was still a book thief on the loose. However, in my opinion, the library was the school's best feature.

Lukas looked a little distracted today for some reason. He was staring outside, looking like he was part of a painting. I didn't want to interrupt his thoughts by asking him what had gotten him so distracted. Maybe I should have asked him to come to the arcade with me sometime. N-not like a date, more like a friend outing that friends do when they have time or have too much to worry about. I wondered if he considered us friends. Emil said if he let me follow him around, then I was, but I thought maybe confirmation from him was best. But how did I ask him that?

Glancing up, I noticed Lukas was already glancing at me. I may or may not have mentally screamed. I looked away and then glanced back when I heard him scoff. He was reading his book. I didn't know the title, but it looked pretty thick. It also had a lot of sticky notes on the pages. They had notes and lines which probably pointed at lines with importance.

"Did you need something?" He asked, glancing at his book. I wasn't sure if he was really reading or not. Either way, I got a bit nervous because of my questions. So many questions I wanted to ask. Still, I would only ask one. Someday, I would have the chance to ask them all.

"Well... I was wondering if something is bothering you. You seem to be spaced out." I noticed him stiffen a bit and sit up straight. Was he about to lie? He always did this when I asked him how he was, or if something was up. Maybe I should ask about that.

"I'm fine. Just tired." He pulled his sleeves down and looked away a little. His eyes did seem a bit red and tired. He looked back at me, a little confused or was it awkwardly?

"What?" he asked. I simply grinned, look back at the pages of my book, and bite my tongue so my thoughts don't escape my lips. I could hear him sigh and turn his page. My eyes snuck a glance at him. He was pouting and reading. Honestly, how adorable could he possibly get?

"Hey, Lukas?" I asked, staring back at my book. He sighed heavily again.

"Will I get any reading done?" he muttered to himself. He turned to me. "What is it now?"

I put my book down and tried not to say something stupid. "We should go to the arcade some time." I said, maybe a bit too excited.

He seemed surprised at first, but then it faded into a face I couldn't really read. "Maybe," he said, turning back to his book. My stomach did three turns and my heart was jumping out of my chest. I mean, it wasn't a date, but it was close to one. Either way, I got to see Lukas outside of school, and that was always something to be happy about!

"When are you free?" I asked, grinning. He glanced at me and rolled his eyes.

"I work weekends and after school until 8pm." I had to blink a couple of times to take in that fact. That's a lot of hours working. I wonder where he works. Maybe I could visit him. "Emil works on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. So, I can't on those days," he added.

"Wow, you must be super organised." Curses. I spoke without thinking again. I glanced at him. He looked a bit confused. "I mean, to work for so long, and keep up with Emil's working days and school work." My cheeks were heating up, I could feel his stare on me. What was I supposed to doooo?

Now, I thought my ears were mistaken, but I heard him chuckle. It was silent and quick. He chuckled out of nowhere, taking me by surprise. I glanced his way and I almost died. Guys, he had dimples. How could I not die? He was too perfect. Oh god. I was so gay for him, I'd start crying rainbows soon.

He saw me looking. I probably looked ridiculous, as usual. He went red, as bright as the colour of my shirts that I normally wear. His face buried itself in the book that was on the table, and his arms held the sides of the book up to shield his face from onlookers. I chuckled too, maybe a bit too loud. The librarian shushed at me. I nodded a little so she knew I understood. Lukas decided to elbow me at the side at that point and I, stupidly, fell off my chair.

And that's how we both ended up outside of the library.

* * *

FrUKUS has been granted~

Cute DenNor has happened~

Ah, I'm in such a happy mood

I do apologise if Arthur is a little (a lot) OC also grammar and just English in general. I need to work on it.

But I now have a wonderful Beta Reader checking the chapters~

It's my first time writing for this love triangle and to be honest I love it so much

Thank to ArkieR for the lovely suggestion

Don't worry you strict USUK or FrUK readers~

I will be uploading more of those pairings in my other stories or as a different stories with them as the main pairing.

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed~

Thanks to everyone reading this sentence right now~~~

||Ame


	7. Chapter 7

[Emil's POV]

_Good morning sleepy head~_

_Have you had breakfast?_

My phone rang at around 7 am. I was sound asleep until I heard the ringtone and instantly shot up awake. The message made me so happy. It was from Leon. He normally texted me to see if he should wait for me, so we could catch the bus together.

My eyes still laced with sleep and ached a bit due to the abrupt awakening.

I rolled over and stretched a bit. Lukas must have been in the kitchen cooking breakfast, because it smelled delicious. Lazily picking up my uniform, I went into the bathroom outside my bedroom and showered.

_I only just woke up._

_But I could smell breakfast already._

_=u=_

Quickly stripping, I replied to the text before entering the shower. The water was warm and calming. I knew exactly how much I would miss this when I got to school. I didn't want to step outside the shower once I was done. I heard my phone beep again, and instantly remembered that I couldn't waste any more water than what I had already done.

_Hoho_

_Someone is late._

_Are we taking the bus?_

A grin appeared on my face whilst I was rushing to get dressed quickly and blow dry my hair and the lot. All I could think about was how wonderful that morning had been. No yelling or fighting to wake me up. No problems at all. It just seemed ideal. How life was meant to be.

_Yep~ So you better wait up, you butt_

_Maybe I can get Lukas to drive me to the bus stop_

_But I might just run to the stop._

_Are you there already?_

"Emil, are you catching the bus?" Lukas asked from the bottom of the stairs as I was rushing downstairs. I was dressed and ready. Breakfast was the only thing missing.

"Yea, I'm meeting Leon there. Thanks for the breakfast!" I ran past him, choosing not to ask for a lift. He would get to school late if he did, because traffic near our house was pretty bad.

"Alright. Be careful, okej? If anything happens text me." I smiled some more. Lukas was always very supporting and caring. I had way too much to thank my brother for. He reminded me a lot of our mother. My heart sunk at the thought of her. She was a very strong woman and kept the family happy and together. Dad loved her a lot. Lukas always had and still did. I missed her terribly.

Lukas looked a lot like her. Her eyes and hair. Even the same face structure and skin colour. I didn't resemble her that much. I looked more like my father. His eyes and hair colour. Dad was way taller than I'd ever be, though. He was taller than Lukas by half a head. He used to be well built, too, until mum's death.

Everything changed when she died. I was four when it happened. Lukas was about twelve. Slowly, dad began to get worse. Lukas stopped smiling, and I stopped being outgoing. It was like all the good was stripped from us and we were left with this sad loneliness that never left. I knew it isn't just me. Dad drank it down with alcohol and Lukas worked until didn't have time to feel down. I… I didn't know what to do with my pile of growing sadness. It seemed to grow everyday as time went on, and it became a dart board for Kevin, Terry, and Daniel to pick on.

Leon was at the bus stop by the time I got there. It was a little colder than usual today. Leon was wearing a thick black coat and a matching scarf that covered half his face. I snickered at the sight. He got cold very easily whilst I got warm almost too quickly. He looked my way and shook his head. I was wearing a thin cardigan with a long sleeve shirt that was very baggy and tight jeans. I smirked a bit at him.

"How aren't you cold?" Leon asked, pointing at my clothes.

"Well, I guess I'm too hot for it," I answered with a grin. He shook his head disapprovingly.

The bus arrived very shortly after I finished my sentence, so we got onto the bus. The driver must have been from Canada or something because the AC was on. Leon was shivering by the time we got seats. I leaned on him a bit and he leaned on me. This way there was no issue with being cold.

"I guess you're right about being too hot," Leon muttered because the bus was crowded with people. I silently chuckled at the remark. I was joking when I said it.

We got off the bus, and that when I knew my day wasn't going to be good. Kevin was standing at the school gate, watching as I got there with Leon. Leon must have seen it too since he moved away a bit. We both knew how homophobic this guy was.

As we got closer, Kevin began to walk towards us. People moved out of his way. I never got why people moved for him. I could feel my nerve at its edge. Leon stood closer to block away Kevin passing by, and keep him from trying anything. Kevin looked at us, disgusted. He was the type that made faces and comments when anything remotely 'gay' happened. At least we made it into the school grounds when Kevin decided to begin fulfilling his role as the dick of the school.

"Hey, Steilsson, where are you going?"

Leon turned around a little. I knew Kevin was following us. Why would he miss the chance to publicly humiliate Leon and I? I was walking towards the car park. I knew Lukas would be there. He sat there with Yao and Tino when he got there early enough. I could see him there.

"Is that your boyfriend? I knew you were a girl." I wish Leon was my boyfriend. Hah. I had to admit that I may have felt more than friendship for him, but I wasn't saying that right now. Leon was getting pissed off. We were so close to Lukas.

"Why you running, huh? Are you a weak little girl or something?" This time Leon turned around and shoved Kevin.

"Shut up, asshole." Leon started. I stopped too and grabbed onto Leon's arm and pulled him back.

"Don't start this. It's fine-!"

I was cut short by Leon. He turned around and looked at me straight in the eyes. His gaze was angry but concerned at the same time. My whole fucking body froze thanks to that gaze. It was intense, but I loved it.

"It's not fine. They're scumbags, Emil." He turned toward Kevin when he said that. His hands felt so warm holding mine. It wasn't the time to be staring at his eyes, but exactly all I could. "It's not fine in any way."

Our gazes didn't break for a good minute. It only broke when Kevin was making wrenching noises. Leon was pissed off. You didn't need to know him to tell. Kevin was clearly not going to let the issue go any time soon.

"WTF, You two ARE gay. That's so gross." His words made vile boil and run up my throat. It was so sickening to see that people were still so inhumane about something that should be perfectly fine.

"What's going on here?" Lukas interrupted. He must have heard what was said. Yao was with him too.

"Your brother sucks cock," Kevin spat out. Lukas instantly narrowed his eyes at him and I could tell that the morning I had woken up to was only sent from heaven by my mum so that I would be able to live down this day.

"Come again?" Lukas practically growled at Kevin. My voice seemed to fade and my muscles felt like they were frozen. Frozen by thick ice, but they burned like the centre of the sun. My mind was screaming and I felt dizzy. Leon covered my ears. I knew there was nonsense being spoken. Kevin shoved Lukas and the crowd started gathering. Punches and kicks were being thrown. Why couldn't I escape the violence?

I couldn't stop the tears from falling. Leon was my only curtain to shield me from everyone. It felt nice and warm, something I didn't feel anymore— only on cold winter nights and days, when the cold made my body ache so my internal pain stopped. Now, all I could do was watch and hide behind my last curtain, my last pillar that suspended me from the dirty floor and shady people.

* * *

[Tino's POV]

It had been a normal day. I had gotten up and made breakfast for myself and my parents. I had left the house with a smile from ear to ear. However, as soon as I got into the school grounds, I witnessed something that turned my smile into a scowl in a mere fraction of a second.

"Get OFF me!"

The mentioned scene that was currently unfolding in front of me was a brawl between Lukas and Kevin. There was a crowd, despite it been so early in the morning. There was yelling and swearing and cheering on. My feet darted towards the crowd and shoved past everyone.

"Kevin, you're gonna die, shut up." A few kids were screaming.

"I'm not gonna shut up!" Kevin was yelling in between a hit that had been thrown at his face by Lukas.

It was a bloodied mess. Kevin had two dark bruises near one eye and was bleeding from his nose, and Lukas had a bruised cheek and a cut on his lip. Never in my 10 years of being friends with Lukas had I ever seen him get this angry and violent.

Emil was also there, in tears, being comforted by Leon, and Yao was holding one of Lukas' arms to make him stop. I quickly dropped my stuff grabbed onto the other, and pulled him off Kevin. It was like trying to stop a wild animal. Alfred and Ivan held Kevin back too.

"Come at me; I dare you to. You know what he is going to get." Kevin spat out, gesturing at Emil when he said 'he'. That's when I stopped holding him back. Instead I went over to Emil and see if he was okay.

"Don't you fucking dare. I will-" Lukas was interrupted by Mathias rushing over and helping Yao hold him back. "NO. Let go!" Lukas was kicking and trying to get back to beat the daylights out of Kevin.

"Lukas, no. You're upsetting Emil." Mathias was trying to reason with him. I couldn't really hear what else he was saying but that comment seemed to cool Lukas a little.

"You're a fucking gay shit and so is your brother." Kevin continued to add fuel to the fire. "Bet your mum is real disappointed."

You could almost hear Lukas snap. Emil was in shock and a shaking mess. At this point, Alfred was the one shoving Kevin. We all had something that we didn't mention out of pure respect and 'parents' was one of them. As for being called gay, it wasn't rare but it hadn't been used in that way for sometime.

Everyone was sort of silent and hearing the reasoning behind such homophobic nature. Like anyone could expect there wasn't any. By this time around, Arthur came running in with a couple of teachers.

It was now lunch time and Lukas, Mathias, Emil and Alfred are nowhere to be seen. I had never been more concerned about them in my life. I wanted to know if they were okay. Was the situation fixed?

* * *

-In the nurse's office-

[Third-person POV]

"The nurse is busy with the wounds you gave Kevin." Mathias spoke as he was bringing stuff to heal Lukas' bleeding lip. Lukas was still breathing ruggedly and unevenly. His gaze was so distant and so mixed with different emotions that he wasn't willing to show. Mathias stared at him for a bit before continuing to get cotton balls out and disinfectant. "You got him good."

Lukas didn't reply. The silence was unsettling and uncomfortable. Mathias could see how tense Lukas was. He was probably thinking about the consequences that this would bring. Or maybe, and hopefully Mathias was wrong to think this, but he could be thinking about what Kevin said.

"Lukas?" Finally Lukas looked up a little. Mathias looked at him with a concerned smile. Lukas relaxed a bit. That smile seemed to calm his nerves even if it was only the slightest bit. "Don't worry, okay? The student council is on your side." Lukas raised an eyebrow and frowned a bit.

"Why would they be on my side?" Lukas' voice was hoarse when he spoke. Mathias was dabbing the cotton ball in alcohol. His hand gently lifted Lukas' chin and rested by his unharmed cheek. Mathias' hand was so warm against his cold face. They both spaced out for a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second was purely to admire how perfectly Mathias' hand seemed to fit and support Lukas' tired head. Or how warmth seemed to transfer faster when it came from each other. Or the way that Lukas seemed to close his eyes for a second longer before opening them when Mathias' hand made that soft and gentle contact. And maybe the way that Mathias was so delicate with Lukas. 'Maybe I'm just too used to harshness,' Lukas let his brain comment.

Mathias continued to clean the wound and the dried blood from Lukas' lip. Lukas would flinch a little now and then. He kept his gaze on anything but Mathias. They were too close for the action not to seem intimate or awkward. Mathias kept his eyes fixed on the lips that were injured, needing a constant reminder to himself that he could not kiss them better. The silence was long and the tension may have been too thick to be ignored.

Mathias broke the silence. "Lukas?"

Lukas finally looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Well, since the matter of discussion seemed to have brought conflict, I wish to discuss a sensitive topic, but only if you give me consent to discuss it with you." Mathias rambled on.

Lukas had to blink a couple of times, clearly not expecting Mathias to beat around the bush. "What? I mean what is it?" Lukas asked, a little confused.

"Uhh, due to some hypothesis and theories, I have been perplexed as to what you are attracted to?"

Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now without the bullshit and straight to the point." He looked straight at Mathias' eyes. He knew what Mathias meant. This was just to see if he would actually do it.

"Are you gay?" Mathias felt so nervous asking this question. He was almost breaking into sweat.

"It depends why you want to know."

"I told you.. I'm curious. That's all~"

"Well, one doesn't give out a name without introduction from the person asking."

Mathias felt himself go red. It was like walking on a tightrope, blindfolded. "I am."

Lukas studied his face for a trance of untruth. There wasn't any to be found. "You better be meaning sexuality-wise." Lukas almost threatened Mathias.

Mathias just went redder. Lukas decided he was going to tell him. It felt good to talk but he found himself trusting Mathias too quick as of recent. He had a lot of reasons to be suspicious of people, but Mathias seemed to break that rule. It was so odd for him. But he could trust that dorky idiot. Mathias respected him and saw him as a human— a human with feelings— and he went above and beyond to make sure he was okay. How was he not supposed to lay all his trust on him?

"I'm gay, too."

* * *

Ah~

And the bbys are out of the closet. I'm so sorry if Emil is OC. I might be giving him too much of my personal view of things. I mean I have gone thru some bad shit and the panic attacks and anxiety still riddle me till present day. I have also witness someone I really care about just freeze up with a pretty bad argument and I can tell you it's not easy to watch or be the person that frozen up.

As for the DenNor, I had to put it in. I hate leaving my stories on a sad note.

SuFin is being developed.

Rochu is also going to be developed. You can see hints of it but not nearly enough I think.

FrUKUS will also had its own chapter (maybe?)

I hop e you guys have enjoyed. My arms are bruised up from a very intense Volleyball round robin which is practically a whole day of playing volleyball. Intensely. I'm pretty sure I have written a lot by now. I should point out that I will fix up mistakes later. Right now I'm practically half dead on my keyboard. But it will be fixed!

**_Thank you to all the lovely reviewers and readers~_**

||Ame


	8. Chapter 8

[Lukas' POV]

I stand there thinking. What the hell is going on? Emil was fine this morning. I saw him leaving with a smile. Why is he now holding back an angry Leon and looking concerned? I saw them approaching so I got up. Yao was with me. We just so happened to be discussing our siblings when we noticed them pretty much speed walking to us.

"It's not fine. They're scumbags, Emil." I could hear Leon telling my brother. "It's not fine in any way." They stared at each other. I could see Kevin getting worked up and making wrenching noises. Kevin was clearly not going to let the issue go any time soon.

"WTF, you two ARE gay. That's so gross." His words made my blood boil. It wasn't gross. I knew Emil wasn't straight, but it was nothing to be ashamed of. I wasn't straight, either. It was just offensive. It wasn't something that should make anyone less of a person. It was and aspect of who one is. It was not a choice, and it sure like hell wasn't something that could be.

"What's going on here?" I interrupted. My voice showed how pissed off I was already.

"Your brother sucks cock." Kevin spat out. I shallowed down my rage. This wasn't going to end pretty.

"Come again?" I practically growled at Kevin.

"You heard me." He shoved me by the shoulders and my will to stop myself from punching him diminished. I grabbed his arms and got them off me. They were so full of filthy, it made me feel gross just by being touched.

"Lukas—" Leon tried to get my attention, but I cut him short.

"Stay with Emil. I'll deal with this asshole." I shoved Kevin back, a lot harder. He tried to kick my side but I punched him in the stomach before his leg could even reach me. I knew nothing about self defence but I knew how to fight well enough. The streets taught me that from a young age.

A few people started gathering.

"I bet your mum does too." There was a collective gasp from the people that knew about my mum. I managed to get him on the ground and began to punch his face. He was squirming around trying to block the punches. I saw red oozing out of his mouth. That's when Yao pulled me off him.

"Don't you fucking dare talk about my mother, you swine." I punched Kevin in between words. There was no way I was stopping this until he was out cold.

"Are you crazy? You're gonna get into deep shit." Yao yelled through the screaming and cheering of the crowd. I guess he was right, but I couldn't stop. Not now that he had the balls to mention my mum.

Kevin took the opportunity to punch me on the face, my lip to be precise. Yao stumbled back as Kevin tried to pin me to the ground like I just did. I kicked him in the balls just as he had my arms down. The 'OOOh' from the students around was crazy. He was rolling on the ground for a bit. Yao stood up and tried to talk me out of this now.

"Seriously, Lukas, you are in a lot of trouble already." Kevin was getting up. He looked pissed off. We all were. Ivan got there and tried to get Yao to go to him. I took that opening and grabbed Kevin by the collar and punched him in the eye.

"Get OFF me!"

I kept hitting. There was no remorse. My anger was too much; it even blocked out the pain from a couple of punches that Kevin had gotten me with. My rage was blinding me. All that mattered was that Kevin was getting what he deserved. It was like all rationality is evoked from me and all that was left was rage and pain that Kevin hadn't actually caused me.

"Come at me, I dare you to. You know what he is going to get." Kevin spat out, gesturing at Emil when he said 'he'. That was when Tino let go of my arm. I yanked my other arm off Yao. He caught my arm again as I was about to run at Kevin again.

"Don't you fucking dare. I will-"

I was interrupted by Mathias rushing over and using himself as a wall between Kevin and me. His eyes looked beyond concerned. I think I must have punched of kicked him a couple of time before he practically lifted me up off the ground. Yao went off to yell at Leon, leaving Mathias to wobble with me struggling to get out of this hold.

"NO. Let go!" Lukas was kicking and trying to get back to beat the day lights out of Kevin. Kevin was being picked off the floor by Ivan and Alfred. He had a similar idea to mine and tried to run at me. Ivan was holding him and Alfred tripped him over. He went face first into the grass.

Mathias was struggling to hold me back. I didn't care; my goal was to beat the crap out of Kevin. At least, not until he started talking me out of my trance of anger. His words echoing into my head somehow managed to get me more calm than I was when he wasn't there. Yao must have disappeared somewhere.

"Lukas, no. You're upsetting Emil." He was holding me back. He was taller than me, so I couldn't really break free. I glanced at Emil, who was in tears, and began to get angry— not at Kevin, but at myself. I knew how susceptible Emil was to violence. Leon was comforting him, still looking pissed off and Yao was talking to him in Canto.

"I'm gonna kill him," was my mantra and it slowly faded back into thoughts as Mathias blocked away my access and made my rage settle.

"You don't need to do this. He doesn't deserve your reaction." Mathias muttered in my ear. Well, he was right. But why whisper it? Oh right, the crowd. My conscious mind started taking over the rage. My lungs felt like they were burning and my stomach felt like the acid in it was burning sizzling through. My hand hurt and my lip was bleeding. I could taste the sickening, metallic taste of it. I was slowly lowered back down to the ground. Slowly calming down. Slowly.

"You're a fucking gay shit and so is your brother." You could hear the gasp in the crowd. Emil needed to get out of here right now. I needed to be out of here before I committed murder. I wasn't far from it. Mathias looked ready to hold me back again, but this time Alfred was the one shoving Kevin and yelling at him. They were having an argument, but I wasn't really listening. I was done.

The teachers came running in with Arthur. Arthur looked shocked to say the least. The teachers got the crowd away. Emil was carried to the nurse's office. Ivan, Alfred, Mathias and I were all in the vice-principal's office Kevin was all getting a lecture from the principal and getting his parents called up.

"What happened?" the vice-principal looked at me and then the rest for answers.

"Kevin was being a homophobic—" Alfred stopped himself from swearing, "A-hole."

"Alright, but what was the fight about? I asked Leon to tell me the start and he said and made it clear that Kevin was the first to pick the fight."

"How is Emil?" I asked, sitting up straighter.

"Leon is walking him home. We couldn't contact your father." Sir talked as if he was worried about it. It was better my father didn't find out. I could explain the bruises, but not the phone call. I didn't even talk to him.

"So I've been told. Emil and Leon were walking into the school grounds when Kevin began teasing." I could feel my blood boiling again. I had a massive headache.

"And they were walking over to you, Lukas." I nodded again.

"And then he started trouble with Leon when Lukas walked in?" Ivan nodded with me this time.

"I saw it as I was walking from the parking lot," he added.

"And then what happened?" There was silence.

"He said 'your brother sucks cock.' And then he shoved me." There was a need for me to go outside and smoke. This is what I did. It was a secret. Emil didn't know of it. But there was no other way to calm me down when I had fights with dad or when I had problems at work. I knew it was bad. It was something I started that I needed to fix.

"And after that?"

"Well, Lukas beat the shit out of him," Alfred said with a tone of enthusiasm and joy in his voice. He patted my back with a grin. The vice-principal didn't.

"The point is that he has insulted Lukas and Emil and verbally if not physically attacked them on multiple of occurrences." Mathias defended me. I had to do something for him later. He had helped me out a lot. I probably would never be able to repay him. The vice-principal looked unsure now.

"Alright, Lukas please go and get yourself fixed up. Mathias help him out if the nurse isn't there. Alfred and Ivan go back to class. You will be notified on what the principal will do about the matter at hand."

I knew I was in trouble. I needed a cigarette.

* * *

[Leon's POV]

Seeing Lukas beat the crap out of Kevin felt so amazing. Sure, it was violent and there was no way that I would ever mess with Lukas now, but the act of just punching Kevin in the face was incredibly satisfying to see. I kept holding Emil close. There was a part of me that told me to take him away from there, and another that told me to stay.

"Is he okay?" Tino came rushing to us from where he had been trying to help my brother hold back Lukas. I glanced down at Emil. He was shaking and had his face hidden in my chest, with my jacket and scarf keeping prying eyes from seeing his tears.

"No, I need to move him away from here." I glanced over at my brother. He looked like he was trying very hard to hold Lukas back on his own. I saw Lukas' friend from the other day— Mathias, was it? He looked pale as he came walked closer, practically running by the time he got to the crowd.

"Emil, it's okay." Tino tried to comfort Emil a little. I knew Emil couldn't hear anything right now. He was paralyzed with anxiety. I wasn't one for hugs or hugging and neither was Emil, but if one of us needed it then we would. I hugged him tightly. He flinched a bit. Then he started sobbing. Tino looked concerned. I was about to panic with all of this.

"Li, get Emil out of here." Yao yelled at me as he ran over to us. He spoke in Canto to me, as he normally did when English failed him. "Is he okay?

"He is crying now. It's okay; he isn't paralyzed like before," I answered in Canto and kept my head resting on Emil's. Half my coat was taken by him, and the other half was around me. His arms wrapped around my waist as Yao got closer.

"Has anyone gotten the teachers yet?" Yao asked and looked around.

"Some kids went running to the office, so I think so," Tino answered.

The teachers and Arthur finally arrived at the scene of the fight. They seemed shocked and disappointed. They all split up and got the crowd away, taking Ivan, Alfred, Kevin, Mathias and Lukas into the main office. The nurse came to us first. Oh, joy.

"Is he okay? What happened?" she asked, a bit concerned. She tried to put her hand on Emil, but Emil moved away and sunk deeper into my coat. He was still sobbing silently and shaking.

"No, he's not. He need to rest." I lifted Emil onto my arms. I had done this a couple of times— once because he had sprained his ankle, then there had been that time he'd first panicked in front of me, and the time at camp when he'd fallen asleep at the bonfire next to me. This was the worst I had seen him panic.

The nurse was talking to Tino and Yao on the way to the sick bay, and I was glad. This school may have had an amazing library, but it needed a new nurse. She knew about Emil's attacks and his history with bullying, and this woman had done nothing about it. I got into the sick bay and sat with Emil in my arms. It wasn't like I was going to let go of him there. We both knew that being in this office brought back awful memories of the past that needed to be washed away.

Emil didn't move of say a word to the lady when she asked questions. There was no way I would do it either, if I were him. I patted his head and kept him close. He would start speaking soon. He wasn't hugging me tightly anymore. I finally was getting warm.

I had no idea how long it had been since the fight this morning. Emil and I were dismissed right after the principal had managed to talk to us about what had happened. I had taken Emil out to a secluded part of the park near our houses. It was autumn, so the leaves were gold and orange. There were a few red ones already, but it was still early for them. I was holding Emil close, like a tree holding onto its leaves. Unlike that tree, Emil wasn't mine— not yet, at least.

"Leon?" His voice whispered my name. His whispers always managed to make my body do things. The simple action made me want to hug him tighter so that maybe his pain would be forgotten for a brief moment, even if it wasn't meant to be taken as an intimate action. I hummed in response. His warm fingers slipped between mine and interlaced themselves to my freezing ones. I leaned my head on his and closed my eyes. He was an instant relaxant.

"Thank you... For everything." There was a feeling of guilt in his voice. His head moved so that his nose nuzzled into my neck. I open my eyes and gazed at him. Oh, God help me. He looked so comfortable and relaxed in my arms. Nothing like how I had seen him this morning. His eyes were still a bit puffy and his nose was pink. I dared not look at his lips. I simply smiled at him. It was so great to be able to spend time with him like this. He wasn't worried or scared. I wasn't concerned or angry. It was peaceful and calm. There were no worries. It was just us.

"Don't thank me. I take pleasure in doing it." He chuckled a bit. It was great to hear him laugh. It always made me feel happy and giddy.

"You're amazing." His eyes were fixed on our hands. His praises made my heart beat faster. "Really. I don't know how I'd still be here—" He stopped. I didn't like what we were talking about. I knew what he meant by that. I didn't want to think about that. I just wrapped him up in my arms. It felt relieving and warm. His scent was so intoxicatingly good. I could feel his heartbeat against my own.

"Shhh, don't talk about that." I had to be careful as to was I said. I loved Emil. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to be in my arms like this all the time. I had lost track of when I had first started falling for him. It had been so long, and keeping it from him had been the hardest thing I have ever done. My patience was wearing thin. Emil didn't shove me away like I had feared. He pulled me closer so there was no gap between us. "I want to see you smiling." I managed to whisper in his ear.

"..ve you," he muttered so softly, I didn't quite hear. I moved my head so that his forehead was on my lips.

"What was that?" he looked up a bit, blushing with his eyebrows turned upwards. My cheeks went pink due to the lack of space in between us. His face was red too. I wonder what he was thinking.

"… uhh nothing, don't worry." He turned away quick.

"Tell meee." Yes, I whined like a kid with him, and yes, he did annoy me about it later on.

"Nuh uh. You didn't hear it. I won't repeat it." His grin was lovely with the pink blush. I wanted to roll my eyes at my own thoughts most of the time.

"Not fine." I hummed and leaned on his shoulder, exhausted of today.

"You're not fine." Oh, was that something I was supposed to have been listening to? Now I was curious. Great, great.

"Okay, I'm listening now. You have all my attention."

"… Do you promise?"

"No, I'm a filthy liar. Cut off my hands and ears as punishment," I sarcastically replied. He pushed me away and stuck his tongue out.

Ah curses, it didn't seem like he would spill. It was moments like this is that I wished I could have a rewind button.

* * *

I am now crying with joy that I managed to finish this.

It was debate whether or not to post this chapter as two separate chapters but ('7') it is all here

Hypocritical Romantic - your reviews always makes me grin omg

1 - You have his reaction? I was a bit confused as to what happened when I was writing this (apologies for the OCness) SuFin is next, I promise

ArkieR - Feel free to PM at anytime. You're amazing~ Also you're very welcome and you has all the hugs

**Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing~**

||Ame


	9. Chapter 9

[Mathias' POV]

"So, what happened after the ﬁght?" Tino asked me at lunch time the day after. Lukas was away, and I hoped he was okay. I was sitting with Tino and Yao, as I had been for a while. It looked a bit odd and got weird looks from people, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Lukas and I were in the inﬁrmary. The nurse was busy, so I tended to his wounds. The principal decided to give us detentions and Kevin is currently suspended." I replied, frowning a bit. I had potato cake for lunch.

"Wait, what? Why are you guys getting a detention?" Tino looked up from his fruit salad.

"Tino, Lukas is lucky he isn't suspended too." Yao added, looking concerned.

"That's true, I suppose." He sighed.

The lunch conversation continued onto regular subjects such as bands and music videos. It was rather boring without Lukas. Oh! But Yao and Tino gave me a ton of music, and that was really awesome. It was not a genre I would normally listen to, but new things were cool! About 20 minutes into lunch, Emil walked towards us from his table. It wasn't too far away, maybe only a few tables down.

"Hey, Emil." Tino greeted him with a smile.

"Hello." He waved at him and turned to me. "H-hey. Thanks for helping my brother out yesterday. He is at home today and probably forgot to say it yesterday… but thanks." He smiled a bit at me.

I grinned back. "No problem, Are you feeling better?" I asked.

He nodded, and sat down between Tino and I.

"Where is Lukas today?" Yao asked, a bit worried.

"He wasn't feeling well. He is working today though." Emil looked away.

"Aiya, work instead of school again?" This was very concerning.

"Is it an all-day shift?" Tino looked at Emil as he asked. Emil nodded.

"He prefers it to staying at home. He said he might come in for the last two sessions of the day and stay back in the library for a bit before his other shift."

"That's a lot of work for one day." I commented with surprise. I could barely get through with school without being exhausted afterwards. I didn't even have the energy to even get through to 4 pm without a nap. Seriously, Lukas must have been made of amazing and wonderful things to be able to keep up with all this work.

"He has been doing this for a long time." Emil seemed a bit proud of his brother, but at the same time, he looked really pained, like he didn't want Lukas to do this.

"How many hours did he sleep?" Tino asked.

Emil sank in his seat. "He came home at around midnight and I helped him get Dad to bed. He was vacuuming the living room by around 1 and then he was probably up in his room doing homework. I fell asleep late."

"Texting Leon?" Yao added. Emil went red and nodded.

"Aiya, teenagers." Yao shook his head whilst ﬁnishing off his lunch from home. It honestly smelled delicious.

"You guys need to sleep more." Tino patted Emil's head. I looked around a bit for the nearest bin and saw Berwald staring at our table. He noticed me and looked away. What was that about?

The bell rang, and we all said our goodbyes to Emil. He went off to where Leon was. I was walking with Tino, since Yao had class on the west side of the building.

"Hey, are you and Berwald friends by any chance?" I asked him. He looked at me for a second and then turned away with a small nervous smile.

"W-well.. I would like that. I mean he did get me out of detention and we sit together in class. He is very quiet, though." He looked a bit nervous and tense talking about Berwald. I didn't know what to think. I mean, I knew Berwald liked him... a lot. However, I wasn't sure if Tino was intimidated by him or had a crush on him. He was nervous and smiling so it could very well be either.

"Don't worry. He's always quiet. If he didn't like you, you would know by the way he glares at you." I imitated the glare he sometimes gave me and ﬂattened down my spiky hair. Tino burst into ﬁts of laugher.

" 'nd he t'lks l'k' th's" Ah, the many years of sitting with that guy in class helped me pick up his accent and imitate him. Tino looked like he was about to die. I chuckled too. It was pretty funny. Berwald would murder me if he saw it, but it was totally worth it.

"Oh, god. How did you even do that?" Tino asked, calming down from his laughing.

"I've known him for years. My father is friends with his and our mothers enjoy going shopping together so that left the two of us to play together when we were little." His dad was super nice. Berwald was so much like his dad, they even looked the same and had the same aura and faces. His mum was actually very quiet too, though she was very sweet and normally enjoyed crushing Berwald with bear hugs. Both of them were really strict. Oh, that reminded me that my parents would be there tomorrow! I hadn't seen them in a while. Since my birthday in June, if I was being exact. It was October.

"Oh! That's like Lukas and I. Our parents were friends in high school, and mine moved away so I only met him when I was about seven." That explained a lot. It certainly made me a bit more curious. Tino must know a lot about Lukas.

"Oh, that's a really cool coincidence." I didn't know if I should ask.

He chuckled and nodded. We got to class and sat in our different tables. Berwald, like always, was reading his textbook. The class was going to start fairly soon. I wondered if Lukas would get there on time. I had his homework from his other classes, so maybe I could stay back and help him out. The teacher walked in, and the lesson began.

"Today, we will be learning about Shakespeare..." I dazed off, barely hearing what the teacher was saying. Shakespeare was good. I knew Arthur would be hyped for this. I glanced outside the window. I wondered how long my parents would stay home this time. They usually made it to my birthdays and other holidays. The rest of the year they were overseas and working. I should be thankful. But I wonder if that meant I was spending Christmas alone.

My parents owned two companies each. Mum owned her own fashion label in Denmark and was a landlord of many big properties around the world. Dad had a toy company in Norway and a restaurant here. They spent a lot of time together and we had a lot of money. Money would never be the problem. I, however, was left alone for long periods of time. They were so far away and never really saw me. They were living their dreams though. I remember when I was little I would cry a lot when they left. I often tried to make some sort of excuse for them to stay. It was sad being alone, but I was used to it.

I heard books being dropped next to me, and I was snapped out of my train of thought. It made me jump a bit. I glanced over and saw Lukas. He looked pale and tired. The exhaustion must have been getting to him. I was glad he is there though. I grinned at him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head a little, with a smirk subtly stealing my breath away.

"What did I miss?" He glanced at the board and saw the teacher writing about Hamlet. Oh, that was a good play!

"We are on Shakespeare right now. I have your homework from the other classes too." I whispered back, taking out my book and notes.

"Great." He sounded done with school work.

I snorted and handed him his math, history and art theory notes. His face was a mixture of done and annoyed. "Want help?" I asked, trying to contain my nerves and dying a bit.

"Are you free after school?" he asked sarcastically. Little did he know that I really was free.

"Yep. I'm always free." I answered, looking at my books. I could feel his gaze on me. It made me really self-conscious and nervous.

"Well, maybe we can study in the library," he said, putting his head down on the table, and reading his book. He looked sleepy. It was curious to see how he refused to sleep even now.

"Really?" I grinned and asked excitedly.

He looked at me with a confused face and sighed. "Well, if you want to. I'm studying there after this and then going to work."

"Where do you work at?" My curiosity asked for me. I smiled apologetically because of how nosey I sounded.

"At the market." He responded vaguely. Wait, didn't he have two jobs?

"Oh~" I hummed. It was exciting to talk to him about stuff. I ﬁnally feeling like I was being heard and I didn't feel lonely when I was with him. Well, duh. You know, like when you're with a group of people or a couple of people and you feel like you're not really there. I don't know, maybe it was just me.

\- after school -

"Hey, are you ready?" I asked Lukas, who was getting stuff from his locker. He nodded and shut his locker.

We were walking down the hallway. It wasn't December yet, so it was odd, but there were a lot of couples around. It was like everyone had arranged an exact day to ask each other out. OH! The winter dance. I had totally forgotten.

Lukas looked annoyed at the amount of people there. I didn't blame him. They were all walking slow, and obstructing the pathways. I could almost hear Arthur saying 'I told you so' to an annoyed Ludwig.

We spotted Leon and Emil at the doors. I had a feeling that they were either going out or really, really, really close friends. It wasn't just me who thought it. I knew Tino shipped it, and Yao was totally ﬁne with it too. I didn't know what Lukas thought of the pair. I wasn't sure he trusted Leon enough to let him hang out with Emil. That is, if he was as overprotective as Alfred said he was— not that I doubted it.

"Oh, hello." He waved at me. I smiled back and waved. Lukas glanced at me for a second before looking back at Emil.

"I'm staying back at the library. I'm going to work straight afterwards. There's food in the fridge." He sounded like a concerned parent. It was adorable.

Emil nodded and looked a bit embarrassed. "What time are you getting home?" He asked, looking away.

"Around 11. Don't wait up again." He glanced at Leon when he said that. Wow, it was like he knew what was going on. It was kinda scary, but super cool. Leon nodded and glanced at Emil. Emil turned Leon around and started walking out.

"Okay, b-be safe." He was embarrassed and took off quick, holding Leon's hand. Leon waved bye at us. I waved bye back. Lukas had a small, satisfied smirk. I wondered what he was thinking.

"So, when did Emil start talking to you?" He asked with a slight glare, like I'd had bad intentions. Alfred hadn't been kidding.

"What? Oh, well, he sat with us at lunch today. He is really nice." I felt myself sweating a bit.

"Oh?" He began walking towards the library. I followed beside him.

"Yeah, he thanked me for yesterday, and then said you weren't here today."

Lukas looked away for a bit. "And?"

"He mentioned you had work today." I figured that I probably shouldn't mention the sleep part. I could feel that it wasn't a topic to discuss, and that was coming from a person who misses most social cues. Lukas grunted a bit at the mention of work.

"He seems really happy with Leon." I grinned a bit. He glanced at me and rolled his eyes.

"He is more than happy with Leon," he added. The reply held a mixture of emotions. I could clearly hear the ring of jealousy.

"They would make a cute couple. Like Tino and Berwald." Oh crap, that last one slipped. He turned to me with and questioning look. I simply grinned.

"Tino and that tall guy that you're friends with?"

"Yea, the one with the serious face and glasses." I said. Lukas nodded.

"Oh, I see it." He gazed out into the distance. He looked a little aloof, and adorable. I always thought he looked adorable though.

* * *

[Lukas' POV]

We settled in a nice corner, away from the front desk where the teachers were. We didn't want to be kicked out again. Kiku and Alfred were not too far away. They looked like they were doing math. They looked up a bit as we walked by, both looking at me, a bit confused. I guess it wasn't everyday that I stayed back, and even less with someone else. I sat down by the window and took out my books.

"So what do you need help with?" Mathias was opening his books up to the notes that he had taken in various classes. Notes that I should probably have been taking.

"Mainly art theory. That teacher gives us too much work." I mumbled that last part. I didn't particularly like to complain. Mathias grinned a bit at me. I was pouting slightly. It was like I was suddenly relaxing more in his presence. 'Note to self: don't be so obvious about how comfortable he makes you feel.'

"What part?" He just stared at me a bit more intently. It was something that I had been noticing lately, too. He stared and smiled a lot. My thoughts drifted a bit as I skimmed through all of his notes. I wondered if he was like this with everyone.

"There. I'm not sure what to write for inspiration and inﬂuences." It was the ﬁrst thing on the page that stood out, and I was making him wait, so may as well have it explained, right?

"Ah, that's asking to write about what picture or artist inspires." I stared at him a bit blank when he said that and he was staring at me as he talked. All of his attention was on me. Did he always have that non-judgemental look? It made me want to just like him more. I could slap myself.

"Influences are things like the theme, colour, style, materials and technique would be mentioned." He glanced at his book and got out more notes for me to look at. "It's basically the part where you explain why it's inspiring."

"It can be anything as long as I can explain why, right?" I questioned.

He grinned and nodded. I could almost feel myself get a wave of warmth from it. Maybe I'm sitting too close. I'm thinking too much. "Yep. As for the influences, it is asking for stuff like cultural and historical influences. So, where the artist is from and what era the painting was set in." He turned his gaze from the books. Shit! Had I been staring at him this whole time? I turned to look at the book with the notes, embarrassed by my own actions. ((Well, you were talking to him, Lukas. It's fairly normal to make eye contact when conversing.))

"Oh, okay," I answered simply.

He kept blabbering. I thought asking for his help had been a bad choice. It wasn't him. He knew everything, and gave me an earful of it. No, it was me. I clearly couldn't concentrate with this doofus messing with me. My ears and cheeks were burning. I subtly covered my face with my hands.

"So uh... Lukas? D-Do you remember when you said that you would go to the arcade with me?"

I glanced his way. His face was turning red, and he was scratching the back of his head. Well, that was an interesting face. "What about it? Not up for it?"

His face changed to one of shock in seconds. "No no no!" And then back to that interesting face. "I was actually thinking... maybe we could go on Friday." It sounded like he was asking me out, to be honest. I smirked a bit at that thought. It would be odd. A nerd with a punk, it definitely would have been a weird combination. Still, if he ever did, I would give him points just for having the guts to do it.

"I'm working on Friday." I glanced away a bit. I did want to go. It sounded sort of fun. I had the shift at the supermarket that day and the restaurant the day after. He must have forgotten…

"I know, but on Fridays the arcade is open until later. So we could go after your shift." My eyes widened with shock. Okay, so maybe this chatterbox did pay attention. I didn't think he would care so much. Not many people thought about the others' availabilities, after all.

"It would be a fun way to wind down from working so hard."

I glanced back at him this time. As expected, his big smile was warm as ever. Warmth that was inviting and relaxing. Especially with the cold weather approaching so early.

I had to get a grip on myself.

* * *

Okay! So I have a bunch of thank-yous to make for the lovely reviewers

Koma and Vermillion Jay: Again, thanks for helping beta read this so quickly. Seriously amazing

Zeta: Yes this will be continuing~ I'm writing the next chapter already

Hypocritical Romantic: XDD I have been nagged by my a friend for not making them kiss. I think at this point everyone is cheering those two on.

CopperTeaLeaves: I'm very glad you're at peace when I update ^^. Said friend also wants to strangle kevin. His character will become important, I think. I'm working it out at the moment.

briana. schmidt1: There will be more DenNor~it is building up nicely I think

LITERAL YACHT: I'm glad you're enjoying the fanfiction and that the characterisation is spot on~ I will continue to write. Your review was honestly very helpful and I appreciated it heaps :3

Thank you for reading~

||Ame


	10. Chapter 10

[Tino's POV]

Detention is never fun. It means staying back at school after classes with douche bags. It seriously wouldn't bother me too much if it was for a good enough reason. I was in here for being late to class three times. It wasn't even three times in a row; it was over the space of three months. Ridiculous.

The crowd in the detention room wasn't too big. Of course, it was full of the typical smart asses that talk back. Lukas wasn't here today; he'd gotten out of it. However, I was stuck there until 4:30, an hour and a half after the last bell of the day. I also now needed to explain to my parents where I was and why I was in detention.

Time always seems to pass slower when you're in a rush to get out. It felt like five hours had passed and it had only been 30 minutes. I was just quietly doing my homework (it needed to be done, so why not get it done in detention?). The kids here liked to show how badass they were by the amount of detentions they received. It was dumb. Lukas was late to school most times and dealt with Kevin, Terry, and Daniel for Emil, so he was in here a fair bit of time. It meant he rushed to work though, which was worrying.

Anyways, I was walking out of detention. As per usual, I had my bag on one shoulder and walked towards to the main exit of the building. It was only then when I realised it was raining. I scrambled through my bag and cursed as I couldn't find my umbrella.

Sighing, I began to make my way to the bus stop. It was freezing and wet – definitely not my day. Days like this would be so much better if my parents could pick me up. Sadly, they both worked today, so there was no way I could get out of this mess.

"Tino." I heard a deep voice say from behind me. I quickly turned around to the voice. The first thing I saw was a blue knit sweater and then I glanced up and saw Berwald.

"Oh, hey Berwald. Did the rain get you as well?" I smiled at him a bit. He nodded, looking away. I didn't know what else to say. Quick, Tino, think of something.

"This weather is great for sitting inside with hot chocolate, huh?" No, Tino. Not that. Berwald turned to look at me.

"I know a place near by," he said, looking through his bag.

"Oh, that's pretty cool," I replied, watching him search his bag, which had heaps of books in it. He took out an umbrella from the bottom of his bag. He quickly opened it and handed it to me.

"No, no. It's okay. It's not raining too badly." He was really sweet, and I couldn't help but blush a bit. Really, he was getting soaked out there. I was the idiot that forgot my umbrella at home in the middle of autumn.

"We could share it," he persisted. I sighed in defeat and nodded. We walked for a bit in complete silence. The rain was getting a little heavier.

"If you want we can go there."

I glanced up at him. What was he taking about?

"The hot chocolate place," he added, as if he had read my mind.

"Oh! That would be great. We could wait for the rain to stop there." I grinned at him.  
He nodded. We kept walking in the rain, sharing his umbrella. We were both soaking wet – I could tell. I could also tell that he was warm. I was close enough to feel the warmth radiate off him. It was not the time to be thinking how warm he was. I mean, once I started that I would think about hugs. Oh crap.

"So, where do you live?" I asked to get my mind off of hugs – I mean, thoughts. Ugh.

"Near the west side of the town."

I glanced at him. He was staring ahead, and looked pretty relaxed right now. He glanced down at me and I looked away. "O-oh, I live around there too. More towards the northern side. Oh! Near the park. You know the one with the weird-looking swings?" He nodded. That meant he must live relatively close. How had he gone unseen by me all this time? I mean, the town wasn't small, but it wasn't a major city. We had a bay, mountain and river. Most people with high income lived near the bay. The mountain was on the west side, and a wider variety of people lived there. The east was where all the shopping centres were and the centre was where Lukas lived. The houses there were rather cheap, but it was worrying living there. It was so busy and there were too many people, not all of them good.

"Tino." Oh, I'd spaced out again. Glancing up at Berwald, he was already staring. He pointed to the shop we were standing in front of. It was a small cafe that didn't look very busy, and it smelled amazing. You could smell the sweets from outside!

"Oh! It smells great!" I grinned at him. He looked away and opened the door for me. I went inside. He closed the umbrella outside and then joined me. It was so warm, I could almost fall asleep.

"Veee~ Welcome, can I take your order?" I turned to see Feliciano there wearing a waiter outfit. We both seemed to register the same thing at the same time. Now that I thought about it, I didn't catch the name of the cafe.

"Oh, Feli! What a surprise!" I smiled.

"Si! It's so lovely to see you, veeee~" He hugged me. "Oh, you're wet. Oops~" he giggled. I grinned and looked back at Berwald. He was watching a bit surprised? I'm still trying to figure out 'Berwald Language', as Mathias liked to call it. He gave me the basics, but the rest I'm basing off of 'Lukas Language'. It was hard, but I was getting the hang of it.

"I'll get you a table~" Feli was skipping as we followed him in. He sat us at a nice table. I noticed Ludwig was on another table by himself reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. He looked like such a grownup. He must be waiting for Feli.

"So, what would you like?" Feliciano bounced about.

"Hot chocolate, please." Berwald looked at the menu.

Feli squeaked a bit and nodded, a little scared, and glanced at me.

"Same thing, please." I smiled. He nodded, gave me a knowing look, and glanced at Berwald. I blushed and shook my head. He grinned and skipped off to the kitchen.

I glanced back at Berwald. He was still looking at the menu. I rest my chin on my hands. Was he going to order something else?

"So, do you come to this cafe often?"

He glanced up and nodded. He was so silent. It made me feel like I talked too much. I did talk too much sometimes, but I had tried not to ramble on with him. I didn't want to seem annoying. "Do you like it?"

I looked around at the place. It was very traditional-looking. It also small, but it was cozy like this, and it smelled great. I liked it a lot actually. I smiled at him and nodded. "It's very cozy."

He nodded and glanced at the table or the salt… No, I was pretty sure it was the table. Mathias had said he liked furniture right? I wondered if it would be easier for him to talk about furniture. He was trying to talk. So, I should try to find out stuff that he liked to talk about, right? Oh, I was nervous about this.

"The tables… are very nice too," I randomly said glancing around. I could feel his stare.

"Ja, they're smooth."

Smooth? I glanced at him this time. I was confused. I felt the table. Oh, they were smooth. Still, it felt even more awkward. "D-do you like furniture?"

He turned a bit pink at the question. Oh, so he did.

"I make furniture." He admitted looking away. Wow, that was pretty cool. He looked embarrassed but it wasn't something to be embarrassed about – it was just making furniture.

"That's cool." I smiled.

Then silence fell. We were both felling awkward. Ah great, why? Maybe I was just really nervous with him? But I was never this nervous. It was frustrating.

Feli came with the hot chocolates. He grinned at us, and I looked away.

"Two hot chocolates, Veee~" He put the hot drinks down and left in a hurry. I glanced back at Feli. He was at the counter and gave me two thumbs up with a grin.

I turned back to my hot chocolate. "What music do you listen to?" I suddenly blurred out.

He looked at me. I almost squeaked like Feliciano did before. He was making that scary face. According to Mathias, it meant that he was thinking or typing to say something. "I… I like pop," he muttered. It surprised me; I didn't think that he would like pop.

"Modern pop or old pop?" There was a clear difference, I will have you know.

"Old pop," he said looking away and drinking his hot chocolate. Now, if we use Lukas Language, looking away and hiding behind an object meant he was embarrassed. Well, duh. It was old pop. It was good, but never as good as the beauty of heavy death metal.

"Ooh, so, like, ABBA?" I asked. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second. It was at that moment when I saw a new side to Berwald. He instantly took out his iPod and handed me an earphone. The catchy tunes of ABBA were playing Waterloo.

"_Waterloo, I was defeated. You won the war. Waterloo, promise to love for ever more"_

I giggled a bit. The lyrics of this song always spoke to me, and the coincidence that he was hearing it made it a little bit funny. He showed me his collection of music. I was impressed to see a few punk bands in the mix. It made me wonder just exactly what kind of person Berwald was when he was in his comfort area. I wanted to know more. Why was I suddenly so curious? I had never been this interested in someone. What was happening?

* * *

Hey guys!

Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing this story in the little hiatus that I suddenly went into!

I'm so sorry about that ;m;

BUT I'm back with more chapters and future stories!

I have a SpaMano series also coming out soon I hope

**_Review answering time~~_**

**WataruWatanabe**: Nope I wont be changing the plot there. It's there for fututre chapters that might contain smut and stuff. That is the only thing that i will be changing! so if i have some sorta smut scenes here, on AO3 it will have everything and be more descriptive. Thats just to avoid breaking rules here. Of course, I will definitely announce that there is smut chapters on AO3 on here before hand.

**Hypocritical Romantic: **I'm so glad you enjoyed that chapter! Honestly was so much fun to write! sorry for the long wait for the update

**CopperTeaLeaves: **I can already tell that you will like next chapter or at least I hope that you find interesting!But yea Kevin is really asking for it!

**Guest: **I'm glad you enjoyed it, lovely guest~ Next few chapters will be more interesting too i hope!

** 1: **SuFin was delivered! AWWwws, srsly your reviews make me so happy! You will always be recognised here~ Im so glad i started this review answering! Next chapter will have more DenNor!

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

||Ame


	11. Chapter 11

[Lukas'POV]

"Hey! How was work?" He practically bounced off the couch near the supermarket I worked in. He had been waiting there since after school since he still had his school bag. I was 30 minutes late thanks to an asshole that was late to their shift.

"Fine. Let's go." I rubbed my eyes. I was tired and stressed. I couldn't stay too long. An hour should be fine. It was a 15 minute ride from here to my house so it shouldn't have been anything to worry about.

"Alright, don't you wanna have something to eat first?" He looked at me a bit worried. I just shook my head. An ice cream would have been kinda nice, but I didn't have time for that.

"Okay~ let's go!" He linked arms with me and bounced about to the arcade. Where was his reserve of energy? Did he have a coffee or something whilst he was waiting?

We got to the arcade. It wasn't buzzing with a mixture of people like I'd thought. It sort of blurred out as Mathias began to drag us to the coin machine to get our notes turned into coins. Ah right, I forgot about that. I opened up my wallet and found a 20. That was fine, right?

Anyway, so we got the damned coins and went onto the machines. We played on all the machines we could. I was actually surprising myself. I was actually having fun winning whack-a-mole, and it was also surprising to see that the nerd actually had decent reflexes. Our last ones were DDR and some shooting zombie game. We ended up with bags of tickets from the machines. Regardless, it was the most fun I'd had in years.

"Come on, it's Dance Dance Revolution! It'll give us a month's worth of exercise in like 3 minutes." Mathias was practically begging for me to join him. I sighed and checked my wallet. I had enough for this one but for nothing else.

"Nope, I'm saving it for the zombie one." I closed my wallet. I glanced up and saw his face. It was like I had just kicked a puppy into a puddle and he was five.

"I'll pay for you," he said, pouting.

I shook my head. I didn't want him to pay for me. If I was going to play I was going to pay for myself. He continued to pout, which made me want to laugh at his face. He suddenly dropped a coin on the floor.

"Oh look. A coin! On the floor. How convenient!" He picked it up and put it in the machine.

"See Lukas? Stranger's coin. Not mine. The floor touched it. It's the floor's. Poor floor." He ranted on picking the song for us. I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That didn't even count! Either way, I put my bag down with my wallet.

"Hey, Lukas." I looked up and saw him grinning at me. I glanced at the screen to see the song he had picked. It was fucking Barbie Girl. I had to try my best not to glare at him. He was laughing.

"...No." I did try. He was still laughing and tried to change it but he stepped on his shoe lace. Great. Where was the best place to hide a body?

"Oh god. Uhhhh well, we play on expert?" I just sighed. I had never seen so much pink and sparkles in my life until we played this damn round.

At first, I didn't want to win. But then, as we started playing I saw just how badly we both sucked. I had never played this thing, so it took me the first round to get the hang of it. The nerd didn't even tell me the rules.

The second round, I was winning until we got to the chorus. The chorus was sped up and Mathias seemed to have known. He was laughing at my confused face for the entire round. The only thing stopping me from pushing him off the stage was the damage to my own points. He managed to make me competitive. Give him an award.

By the third round, we were both sweating and in serious need of a drink. We ended up both losing the round. Thank the Lord. I never wanted to see the color pink again.

"Oh! Wait for me at the zombie game. I'll be right back!" I was about to stop him, but he ran off. I had never face palmed so much. I didn't even know where this patience was coming from.

So, I was standing there with our bags and stacks of tickets we had won. There, for once, I didn't feel so stressed. In fact, I felt comfortable and mildly exhausted. It was like my body had let go of all the troubles.

"I'm back!" Mathias appeared out of nowhere again. He quickly handed me a cold drink. Glancing down at it, I realised that is was a milkshake.

"There wasn't any thing else and I wanted a drink, so..." he tried to explain himself. I simply sighed and accepted the drink. It would be pointless trying to argue with this dork. He grinned at me like a kid on Christmas morning. Seriously, you could see the frickin' glint in his eyes, damn it.

"This is the last one, huh?" I said turning to the machine I was leaning on.

"Yep! This one is the best."

I picked up the gun. I wanted to say that I was a bit of a fan of shooter games. I hadn't played in a while but I was hoping it would somewhat help. I had to beat this nerd in at least one game. We put the coins in and the game started. He instantly got shooting at the zombies.

The characters were visible so we could shoot at each other if we wanted. I smirked. Mathias was too busy shooting at the zombies to notice me taking cover and climbing up to the roof of the shelter we were in. I began shooting from there. Having a better spot to snipe them down.

"Where are you?" He asked, getting frustrated as I took his kills.

"Nowhere important." I smirked as my little mischief was making him act out of character. Mathias walked out into the plain field and started shooting and running at the zombies. I snorted at his recklessness. He took a competitive stance and held the gun like he was really going for it. Our scores were tied at the moment.

"What's wrong, nerd?" I asked with amusement. He pouted when my kill score was higher than his.

"You've played this before, huh?" he asked as his character shot a zombie in the head.

"Nope. I don't come to the arcade. Last time I did, I was 13." I smirked as he was struggling with an OP zombie.

"How are you good at this then?" He practically yelled as his character seemed to be dying. "No no no no no- damn it!

I covered him and shot the last few health points that the zombie had. Of course, that meant that it counted as if I killed it. It gave my overall score a massive boost. Mathias groaned in annoyance. I had to hold back the little laughing fits that were about to happen. Getting Mathias irritated and annoyed might be one of the best things in life.

"The next wave is about to start, genius." I smirked as I was getting ready and reloading. He glanced at me and grinned a bit.

"You're on," he said as he pushed his glasses up and bit his lower lip. The look screamed confidence that he would win. There was a competitive tension between us.

Mathias spent the next 2 minutes trying to find me on the map as I kept moving and killing. We were trying to get kill combos. He was up to 120 and I was 119. It was so close. Honestly, I wanted to trip him over or something.

"Hahahha. I'm winning now." He fist pumped. It then occurred to me that I could probably shoot him. I smirked and made my character move as fast as possible from our current spot. It wasn't too hard to find the dork. I swapped guns and shot a zombie behind him, then fired a second shot at his character. He gasped and turned to me.

Killing him made me the winner and Mathias was standing there with his jaw hanging. I put the gun down and turned to him. He looked a mixture of betrayed and amused. It was a different expression on his face, but it was definitely one of the funniest ones.

* * *

[Mathias' POV]

"That's not fair!" I whined.

"It was never said that I couldn't." Lukas was leaning on the machine again. I groaned, ready to pull my hair out. His eyes were full of amusement. "Never knew you would be a sore loser."

"I am not! That move was low. Come on, I was on a perfect killing streak, too," I whined.

Rolling his eyes at me, he had a growing smirk. Suddenly, his eyes shifted past me and his smirk dropped. He became as rigid as usual. I noticed and glanced back. Terry and Daniel were there, walking toward us. They looked smug. I understood why he had gone back to his usual self. I began to worry. Did this mean they were looking for trouble again? It wasn't school grounds so they couldn't get into as much trouble. I glanced at Lukas with a concerned face.

"Sorry to crash your date." Daniel smirked. It wasn't a date but… oh how I wish it was. I could feel my cheeks get warmer.

"Wow, Lukas. You got yourself a girlfriend. Oh, wait. You're the girl in the relationship, aren't you?" Terry started. I was starting to hate the tone of voice with these guys. I had been bullied by them before, but it was a while ago. It had died down as soon as they found out that I had money. I was getting uncomfortable with their homophobic attitude and commentary.

"We have a message from Kevin," Terry added. I could tell Lukas was instantly pushed past his patience point as Kevin's name was mentioned.

"Why doesn't Kevin come and deliver his message in person?" I questioned, frowning.

"Lukas growled. "He is a fucking asshole."

"Shut the fuck up. You broke his nose," Terry bit back.

"Good, might have fixed his face a bit." Lukas spoke with a venous tone, an icy glare and scary smile.

"He's in the hospital, nerd. Don't get involved. You might end up there yourself," Daniel threatened. I didn't doubt they might but I wasn't going back off.

"If you don't want to end up in the hospital, get out of here." Lukas was only getting angrier by the minute.

"He says to expect a bigger hit. He won't stop until you give in and you're hurt like him." Daniel continued. Lukas stood up from leaning on the game we were playing on before. His fingers were twitching a bit, I noticed. Kevin wanted revenge for their fight? It didn't make too much sense. If Kevin was going to get pay back then it meant that he and Lukas must have deeper issues with each other. What exactly was their issue, apart from what I knew? "He said to watch your back. And to remind Emil that he will be back at school next week."

"He can't do that during school hours or after school. It's part of the school policy." I glanced at Lukas and then at the two of them. Everyone looked at me like I was insane.

"Anyone caught harassing in any way or form will be taken directly to the principal's office and the school will arrange a suitable punishment right away, whether it be a student or staff member. If actions are repeated and caught again, then he or she will be expelled without exception," I repeated the school rule. It helped having Arthur repeat this to us all.

"The fuck are you, a lawyer or something?" Terry seemed to be getting aggravated. Daniel seemed to be thinking. "The hell is harassing? Speak English."

I didn't expect anything different from him. It was just like him to answer like that. Lukas rolled his eyes and sighed in heavy annoyance.

"Whatever. Look, nerd, you're pushing it. Don't make us repeat the past with you. Back off." He smirked. I could feel Lukas' stare on me. I went a bit pale but I stood my ground. I had to think of a way to get them out of here. Lukas seemed to be thinking too.

"I'm already involved," I replied. Terry grinned with malice radiating off him. I knew what was coming once I had said this. Lukas snapped out of his thoughts.

"He isn't." He glared at me and then at them. He placed himself between Terry and Daniel and I. Terry began laughing. Daniel smirked.

"Isn't that disgustingly adorable? But you don't know a lot of things about each other huh?" Daniel spoke up.

"Precisely why he isn't involved. Leave him out of it. This is between You three and I stop making it someone else's." Lukas snapped at them. So it's with all three of them. It must be serious.

"You know, he's gonna hurt and your sister again, and now your girlfriend," Terry pushed on, ignoring what Lukas had said. I was starting to get ticked off. It wasn't common to see me angry. I normally didn't have anything to get angry about. Lukas snapped and grabbed Terry by the collar. I grabbed his other arm.

"Touch them and I will murder all of you."

* * *

**I just realised this story has over 400 views since I last updated which is crazy because that was two days ago! You guys are all amazing! I can't even human right now. little awkward turtle me is trying to calm my shit OwO**

**Thanks so much to Vermillion for doing an extremely fast beta reading! I love the notes! **

**You guys should totally check out their story "****The Common Denominator"! It's also DenNor and it's absolutely amazing!**

**briana. schmidt1: **aaaaaaaa *^* very happy! DenNor will be happening a lot after this chapter I think but I will also have the other pairs. There will be a lot of shit hitting the fan and exploding everywhere but YUUUS

**CopperTeaLeaves: **Your review needs a crown and a religion. OMFGG it made me laugh so much! I just picture Francis going "Mon Cheri, s'il vous plaît, non! My language is more beautifullllll" with pepe's crying face XDD (memes are taking over my brain) I'm happy that you liked the SuFin and that you look forward to my updates!

**LightAshCrazyMuffin: **I'm glad that you love this story! I love writing it~ Canada will definitely be in the story. He is friends with Emil as I said previously, so he will definitely be in it!

**Hypocritical Romantic: **Thank you so much! It was a big struggle trying to get it like that. Im not used to writing SuFin but I enjoyed it heaps!

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

||Ame


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: **This has not been edited so expect the errors and choppy awkward sentences at times. I wanted to post this ASAP for you guys because its been a while ;3;**

**Anyways, Enjoy~**

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[Daniel's POV]

Let me tell you a few things. I am not a bad person for one. Neither is Terry or Kevin. Bad things happen to good people that make them look like the bad guys. This, however, is NOT what I signed up for. Hell, there wasn't even a sheet to sign and rip up. I was forced into delivering the news to our ex-partner in crime and get out.

Here is what you probably don't know about the punks at our school. There is a reason why they aren't messed with. Let's start with little poor innocent face Tino. He has a gun licenses and his family own a highly regarded gun shop outside of town. Then there is the Yao, who is a master of Kung fu and other material arts. And last but not least. Punk face with bad attitude. He was involved with us for a long time before he left us cold and empty handed. He was one of us. In fact Kevin considered him his best friend. We helped him out when he needed money. Sure, the methods would have been seen as illegal but we did it.

He would probably have had a thousand problems without our help. Kevin made us swear never to tell him where we got the money or food. Kevin knew how Lukas would react. I remember this one time that we first got a detention together. We had messed around with a few cables in the drama class. During the yearly school production. Good times. But Lukas didnt like it at all.

They all ended very quickly though. It was the start of puberty and well we all know how kids can change from mischievous to violent. We were picking on a kid and Lukas came in. He instantly got mad and helped the kid out. It wasn't too bad we were just shoving him a bit nothing serious like we do now. But Lukas had always been strong headed about not picking on the weak.

"Don't ever do that. This is serious. What the fuck is wrong with you three?" He was outraged. At first, I think we all thought he was being dramatic and what not.

"Chill yea? It's just shoving." I remember Terry sheepishly saying. What I remember most out of that day was the only expressions I had ever seen Lukas pull. It was his disbelieving shocked expression that quickly turned into anger.

"I'm out of this. I refuse to be associated with the three of you." Those words never made sense at first. He was always using big words and phrases that were old like from books and stuff. I never understood half of them but I know a secret of his the the other two don't. After that day had happened and Kevin was hurt, I followed Lukas after school. It was strictly to see how he was doing since he only had Tino as a friend back then.

This is when I finally understood why he was so angered by us messing with some nerd. I followed him to the library. He didn't go though the front entrance. Instead he went to the back and picked the lock. I thought it was weird but then I saw him go in and just read. For hours. This was his secret. No one else knew about I could tell. That's why he must have been so against us messing with the nerds. He IS a nerd. It all made sense.

He was a punk though. It would be weird for him to hang out with the nerds. That's why he sat with Tino probably. It was a mask. And if I was to say a word of this. He would be in deep shit. At times I was very tempted to go ahead and tell, but, I always thought that there will be a time and a place for us to use that information against him. After all, he hurt us. He left us and we turned into who we were today. Terry and I didn't really want revenge. Kevin, on the other hand, wanted it more than anything.

"We have to start with picking at what will hurt him the most." He mumbled to us.

"Bro, honestly, it's not worth it. Wouldn't you want him to feel a little sting and then make it hurt more?" Terry almost gave good advice.

"Isn't there a kid that is always staring at him or what not?" I should have kept my mouth shut from saying that. I often don't mean to say things but they slip out. Kevin smirked evilly. I felt myself become slightly scared. I probably would have left too if I wasn't aware of what Kevin was turning into.

We weren't aware of who Mathias was at the time. Is that even his name? Whatever, that nerd was just a nerd with a massive crush on Lukas. We picked on him relentlessly for about a year. We then found out where he lived and back off a fair bit. We didn't need people with money against us. It would be a lot of trouble. That didn't seem to stop the nerd from looking at Lukas. Lukas didn't seem aware of it. Of course he wasn't aware of it. That's when our next target became Emil. Terry was very against it. He hated Lukas but he didn't want to get Emil involved.

"That's fucked up. Come on, why don't we pick on Lukas instead?" He whined. Kevin glared at him enough to shut him up. He grabbed Terry but the collar and growled.

"Because it will hurt Lukas more to see his brother get picked on than to experience it himself. He knows it would be his fault." He threw Terry at me. He had become a monster. Terry was very still for a bit. Like he was trying to believe that this was reality and not some nightmare.

"That's fine but you don't need to throw us around. We are your friends remember?" I let my anger get to me that day. Terry grabbed onto my arm and pulled me out of there. We heard Kevin throwing his tantrums and fits of anger. We were lucky it was the garage we normally hang out in. It took a while to fix all the broken furniture as well as our trust for him but it was mended.

After that Terry and I were never against his word. It was all fine until now. Kevin was in the hospital and it was Lukas' fault. He was more violent and angry. Terry was probably more scared than before to go against Kevin. I didn't want to think what he would do if we left too.

"Let him know that I'm going to make him hurt like he has hurt us. And that his little girlfriend and sister can expect some pain too. I will be out next week." His face was patched up with bruises and his nose looked like it had gotten out of a nose surgery. It was bad. Lukas had his injuries too. But he was smart about them. They were fading quicker and we knew that Kevin wasn't going to like it at all.

"How do we know that he will be here?" Terry asked me as we walked up the stairs into the arcade on the second level of the shopping centre.

"He works in the supermarket here doesn't he? I have seen him around here. I don't know." I lightly brushed off the question. It seemed like it was insignificant at the time. I didn't know that the nerd was going to be with him. Or that he was going to anger Terry. Or that the nerd was going to try to stop Terry from beating up Lukas. But that all happened so quick.

I currently was holding Lukas back from knocking Terry out. Terry was raging, maybe more scared that Kevin would cut his ass up if he didn't beat up the nerd for interrupting our message. I was surprised by Mathias though. He kept defending and stopping Lukas from getting into a mess like this. Maybe he really liked Lukas a lot more than what I originally thought. It reminded me of what would happen to him though. If he got closer, Kevin would hurt him more.

I could stop disaster from snowballing or I could stay safe.

Terry punched the nerd on the face. I expected that. The sound of the impact seemed like it hurt a fair bit. Lukas was kicking my shins and elbowing me to let him go. I noticed that the nerd's glasses went flying off elsewhere. They were probably broken or something now.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO FUCKING MESS WITH US." Terry was shouting. People stopped and started to gather around. I looked around and saw a few people informing the desk at the arcade that there was a fight happening. There wasn't. The nerd wouldn't stand up right? Why go through the pain?

That's when the nerd got up and punched Terry. And then they both fell on the floor and started trying to rip each other into shreds. My grip on Lukas loosened. Lukas stopped for solid 30 seconds. The shock made everything go into slow motion. The nerd had punched Terry. In the gut. The nerd punched the bully in the gut. Something about that just made me drop everything inside. I don't know if it was a happiness to see that an old friend had someone legitimately good looking out for them or intense fear and cold sweat. Maybe it was a mixture.

Lukas of course took this opportunity to elbow me in the ribs and run to Mathias and pulling him away from Terry. I didn't know what to do. Everything was going slow and then it sped up. People were filming and acting like they haven't seen a fight. Well, I haven't seen a nerd beat Terry's ass before. I turned and saw the security guys practically running to us.

"Terry! Let's get out of here now. Don't be a cunt." I pulled Terry away from an angry Mathias also being pulled away from an raging Terry.

"I'm gonna kill this motherfucker!" Being tall helped here. I just picked him up and ran out of there. Fuck it, I wasn't going to let us get caught. We have done too many crimes to be caught right now.

Once we were far away enough from the place, I turned to Terry. He had been the only person I could trust from the beginning. I knew he trusted me so I decided to try and wake him up from this fear Kevin caused to have.

"We need to back off from those two." I said panting with my hand on his shoulders. He was panting too. It wasn't rare for us to run from cops, teachers, security guards. We just haven't done it in a while.

"What do you mean? What about Kevin? Do you know what he is gonna do to that nerd now?" Terry whispered loudly to me. Sometimes I feel like he is still just a scared small child.

"Did you see how Mathias snapped? Get Lukas and him pissed off and Kevin might have a trouble dealing his way out of death!" I whispered back. I didn't know why we were whispering. It's just something we do when we talk about Kevin. We are paranoid of him overhearing us probably.

Terry pulled my arm and dragged me to our normal hide out. It was the garage that Kevin once torn up. It wasn't too far from the centre. "Daniel, are you insane? Are you planning to go against Kevin? Or worse, leave him?"

"What the fuck do you think? It's getting more dangerous and to be fair, it's not the good type of dangerous. He is a monster now!" I was beginning to raise my voice now.

"Fuck no. If you're going to disappear you might have to do that false death shit on TV. I ain't the smart. I don't like books. Fuck them, but even I can tell that Kevin will find out and try to kill us probably." Terry was panicking. When I say he was panicking its that shaky paranoid type. He is scared of Kevin. He doesn't want to be on his wrong side and I think that he might even regret ever being friends with him. I know I did.

"Terry, calm yo ass. I swear, listen to me. We don't have to fake deaths or shit like that. We just let Kevin realise how pointless we are. Seriously, what other way is there around this?" I sat down on the old creaky couch we had there. We found it on the streets so god knows if someone died on this. We washed it and patched it up though.

"Uh, we can not do that and fucking live. Fuck it. Why are you even considering that? Don't tell me you are suicidal. You know that shit is serious to me." Terry was walking around. Sometimes he reminded me of those small wind up toys that go really fast at first and then chill. That's him when he is angry or worked up about something.

"I am not suicidal, you fuck face. I wanna live that why we need out. Out of this place. Out of this sick friendship and out of this motherfucking mess." He finally sighed and sat down next to me.

"And how the hell are we gonna do that when Kevin wants to practically kill lil Emil and now Lukas is probably gonna get shot or something. Fuck." His voice broke. When Lukas was still friends with us. Emil used to hang out with Terry. Emil didn't think much of it but Terry never had any sibling. Emil kinda filled that out for him, I guess. I think that's why he was against bullying him, unless Kevin is around. Terry's mum always took care of him after his dad killed himself. His mum never remarried so he never had siblings. We are the closest he has to brothers and so he treats us like such.

"I know. That's why we have to leave. We can warn them about it but we need to get away from Kevin. He honestly needs help." I pat his back a bit.

"And what then? Daniel, he is our friend. He is like a brother to me. I'm scared of him but also what might happen to him." Terry snapped at me a bit. You could hear the tension in his voice. It's all built up stress cracking through to the exterior world. Kinda like how Lukas is actually.

"Terry, I know that but there is also a point that we can go to and we are far from that."

"What point? I don't get these book analogy shitty crap. Is that even the right word? Fuck it. I don't get them. You know I don't read. And screw numbers too."

"Yea you sayin that now but when you need money you know all the maths right?"

"That's fucking different. I need to take care of my mum. I can't go against Kevin." I stood up biting both my lips together. Terry stayed sitting and watched as I paced back and forth in front of the couch.

"What are you think?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to give Mathias the information we get from Kevin." He stood up now.

"Now you're insane?" I hush him.

"Don't be stupid. I'm not going to let them know who is giving them information." Realisation must have hit him a little delayed as he had a delayed reaction to what I had said.

"So, they won't know it's you? And neither will Kevin?" He asked trying to understand things.

"Yea, it will be anonymous." He seemed to calm down and think about things too. I grinned a bit. "We act as we normally do but we get down and tell them what Kevin is plotting... For the good of Kevin and them."

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[normal POV]  
The breeze outside was cold and harsh. Mathias and Lukas had dealt with the security guards from the mall and explained what had happened. They were now in the bathroom for kids. They had microwave, play set and couches. It's supposed to be a bathroom for parents to change nappies and breastfeed their kids but there weren't any parents this late at night. So Lukas just dragged Mathias in there.

"Owww" Mathias whined as Lukas put some ointment for the bruises to die down quicker. The smell was super strong, like foot cream or something of the sort.

"It's your fault you're in this mess. I told you not get involved and now look at you." Lukas tried to sound angry but instead his voice sounded more concerned and anxious. Mathias grinned at this.

"Well it was all worth it. It's a shame I lost my glasses." Mathias rubbed his eyes and winced a bit when he touched his bruised cheek bone.

"Now Kevin is going to go after you. Is that really worth the trouble?"

"Well yes. I kinda made up my mind when you threatened them-" Mathias blushed and looked away. He hadn't meant for that to slip. Lukas watched the expressions change in Mathias' face. He sighed a bit and grabbed a wipe from the large dispenser in the bathroom.

"What I say shouldn't influence what you do. Besides those three are more capable of damage than you think." Mathias watched with his blurred vision as Lukas spoke. Lukas began to wipe the blood of Mathias' face from the cut on his lip.

"I know that. I have been through my share of their trouble." Mathias averted his gaze. The harassment from the past still haunted him. He didn't know why they picked on him. It looked like a random attack on a random nerd passing by back then. But now it made sense why he was targeted.

"What do you- don't tell me they used to beat you up." Lukas seemed to catch on quick but beating up wasn't the only thing they did. Life was hell three years ago. Those three made it hell for a full year and then suddenly stopped. It wasn't physical abuse that hurt but the paranoia that they would start again. His silence reassured Lukas that he was right.

"What did they do?" Lukas' tone changed from concerned to angered in seconds. He hadn't felt it until now but the punk really did change his tone a lot when he was mentioned. Although Lukas didn't show much emotion through his facial expressions, his voice seemed less deadpan the more the Mathias seemed to be near him.

"Oh... Uh well the usual. Picking on the defenceless nerd, breaking my glasses, throwing my books into the school fountain, shoving me and beat me up." Mathias made it sound like it was the most normal thing in the world but it was the very opposite. Lukas stared at him with his eyes widened at the list of wrongs.

"It's alright though. They stopped after a while so it's fine." Lukas could tell it was an attempt to brush off the seriousness of the situation. He accidentally pressed the wipe on the cut directly. "OUCH!"

"Sorry. You shouldn't say it's alright. It isn't okay to be harassed." Mathias sat up straighter on the bench. He was a little shorter than Lukas who was standing in front of him. This was probably the closest they have stood next to each other. The thought was making Mathias space out. Even if he couldn't see the best he could just make out the details of Lukas' face. The closer they were the better he could see. He already knew Lukas was attractive but being close made it more obvious. It made his lips feel dry and lost for words.

Lukas didn't notice at first but the sudden silence caught his attention. He slowly glanced at Mathias as he was wiping the rest of the blood off his cheek. He realised he was practically caressing his cheek. The second he realised that his fingers began to register the warmth radiating from below the wipe. His mind also took a second remind him how close Mathias' face was and how different he looked without glasses. Glasses made Mathias look dorky and cute. Lukas liked cute things despite his great love for heavy metal and being able to break someone's nose. The absence of glasses just was different.

There was a silence were Mathias and Lukas just stared at each other. Their minds making their bodies inch closer but Lukas broke the eye contact rather quickly once he sensed himself leaning in. Mathias cleared his throat a bit. Lukas put the bloody wipes in the bin.

'What was that?' Lukas was asking himself. He knew Mathias liked him and he had tried to keep him away from him because attachment and false hope could happen. However, it was his heart beating quickly now. He could feel the pulse on his throat. He couldn't like this dork _that_ way right? These feelings couldn't have developed this quick. It's just attraction and hormones. Probably. Hopefully…

Mathias' face heat up like a traffic light. He couldn't believe what has almost happened and he was probably going to have a grin from ear to ear knowing that he was that close to heaven. He didn't care if it hurt slightly or a lot to kiss with an injured lip. He was close. He wasn't about to deny that he liked Lukas but he supposed that if he asked he couldn't just say that he thought of them as friends.

"Lukas?" Mathias suddenly spoke up breaking their now slightly awkward silence. Lukas flinched a bit and turned to look at him. Mathias could just make out the lines of his face.

"Yea?" Lukas asked after waiting for a few seconds.

"I'm going to need a lift home, I can't see anything." Lukas sighed a bit but could tel the other was more than pleased with how tonight's events had turned out.

"Dork."

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OKAY so that was actually a really long unexpected hiatus that i just appeared out of. I have basically been going through some personal stuff and a tsunami wave of stress. I came out to my parents about a month ago and things are a bit tensed so yea. Its been interesting. Time to go change bio because this was the last one (out of the millions) that i have to update. I normally would have written it in already but i usually wait until things are official with my family to change things so it takes time.

Enough about me and now Review time~

**briana. schmidt1 : **Shit did hit the fan and I hope you liked this chapter. I wanted to write it in completely Mathias' or Lukas' point of view but I changed my mind last minute and made it from Daniel's since I hadn't really gotten him involved with the story. Also MASSSIVE thank you for always being one of the first people to read and review I really enjoy seeing you enjoy the story and reviewing :3

**CopperTeaLeaves: **1000/10 Review XDDD. It made me laugh too oh my god. I'm pretty sure at least Daniel will try to stay on the good side. I hope this chapter doesnt make you change your mind. I'm actually curious if it changed people's mind about the bullies. But Kevin will definitely get his payback that's for sure.

**Guest: **I am glad you love it and continue to do so~

**Diaflower:** I know the feeling. I get hooked instantly but I also find it embarrassing. Like I feel the surprise for the character and react. But yea it's totally cool and Im glad you like the story! I'm just all over the place and haven't updated in a while. My bad ;3;

**Kirin Vlinder****:** Can I just say that I had at least three different types of versions to this chapter and I tried to mix and match and it just happened to turn out the way that you asked... in all three version. Seriously I have chapter 12, 12.1 and 12(might be the one). I kinda want you guys to see the extra material but it would change the plot and stuff UGH the struggles. Lukas, Emil and Mathias will struggle a fair bit and a lot will happen but believe me they will be alright.. for the most part.. at the end..;3 Anyways, I'm glad that you enjoyed it and you favourite the story. Sometimes I don't know if I'm doing things write and reviews always help me get out of that train of thought. So many Thanks~~

Massive thank you to everyone continuing to follow and favourite the story. It lets me know that I have to write and it really does get me out of a bad mood to write for you guys.

If you have any queries or wanted to maybe read this from Lukas' or Mathias' POV message me and I will send you a copy and maybe talk~ I actually enjoy talking to people especially about DenNor and Hetalia in general~ So feel free to message me regardless~

**Thanks for Reading and Reviewing~**

||Ame


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: This hasn't been edited properly! i'm sorry if there are any mistakes

_I dont own Hamlet or Hetalia_

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[Mathias POV]

Three missed calls and no replies to my text messages. Where on earth was Lukas? It was fourth period. I had been taking down notes in order to distract me. It wasn't like him to bail on class on a Wednesday. Fridays and Monday mornings were questioning, but middle of the week and missing out on class wasn't like him. He would text or call to say he wasn't coming anyways.

Midway through the session he walks in and hands a note in to the teacher, who gives him and apologetic look and lets him sit down. I sighed in relief. He was alright and here. Then I saw the bruises. He sat down next to me not looking at me. He pulled his hair over the bruises. I, then, realised he had more on his wrists. I was amazed. I knew something was up.

"Mr Køhler, I know Shakespeare is boring to you teenagers and you're fascinated by Mr Bondervik's face but please turn your face to the board." My face went crimson red and I turned to the board. I could hear Lukas quietly snickering with a smirk. There were more giggles and one distinctly loud wolf whistle from none other than Gilbert.

"Seeing as you clearly weren't paying attention, you don't you read what we were up to?" I open and shut my mouth like a fish and then turn to Lukas who was holding back a laugh with one of his coy smirks.

"That we find out the cause of this effect, Or rather say, the cause of this defect, For this effect defective comes by cause. Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend. I have a daughter—have while she is mine— Who in her duty and obedience, mark, Hath given me this. Now gather and surmise." I read the lines getting into character unknowingly.

Polonius wasn't my favourite character in the play but he was interesting. The poor man died by trying to eavesdrop on a conversation. And so it was decided that to brighten the tense mood between Lukas and I, I was going to be a jest and play the part of a father that was more concerned with the English in a love letter by a teenager than the intended purpose.

" 'To the celestial and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia'_—_That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase. 'Beautified' is a vile phrase. But you shall hear. Thus: 'In her excellent white bosom, these,' etc.—" not many of the kids in the class knew what the play was about but seemed to understand that the father was picking out the errors by how I was reading the lines. Lukas buried his face into his book. My teacher seemed to be pleased enough to let me continue so I did.

"Came this from Hamlet to her?" I did a high pitched voice that broke half way thru the sentence causing giggles and laughter to leave a couple of people. Lukas hadn't given into laughing yet so I continued.

"Good madam, stay a while. I will be faithful." I deepened my voice again and coughed a little because Gertrude's voice had made my throat itchy. I was getting to the good part of the scene. The letter I was considering reading in an over dramatic love struck voice but decided against it and read it as I normally would read something that I wrote. Mainly because it was one of my favourite part but because I equally sucked at poetry so I connected a lot with Hamlet here. In the non 'I want vengence—oops I just killed everyone and myself' kinda way.

" _Doubt thou the stars are fire_,

_Doubt that the sun doth move_,

_Doubt truth to be a liar_,

_But never doubt I love_.

O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best, oh, most best, believe it. Adieu.

_Thine evermore, most dear lady_,

_whilst this machine is to him_,

Hamlet."

There were a few giggles and a bit of snickering. My teacher seemed a mixture of confused and amazed and Lukas was a little red I'm not sure is it was because he was holding back a laugh so much that he was holding his breath but I could see it.

"Alright, Køhler, sit down. You should consider signing up for the theatre. I'm pretty sure Mr Bondevik would go watch." I sat down and glanced at Lukas. He rolled his eyes.

The bell rang and I gathered my things and tried to catch up to Lukas who pretty much bolted out. I manage to run out holding my things in my arms. Now, you know how I lost my glasses on that fight with Daniel and Terry? Well, I was using my old ones that weren't helpful for long distance any more. So, I was practically running blind. Now, do you also remember when I said I was a nerd? You know what nerds are stereotypically good at besides homework? Bumping into things and being incredibly clumsy. I am excellent at both of these things, with or without glasses.

I was making a bee line around the hallway, bumping into people. I heard someone yelling in Italian and then a stunned looking Spaniard who was holding the yelling Italian against himself. I began to run before they noticed it was I who made that happen. In that process, I bumped into Gilbert who was having glaring contest with Roderich. Needless to say, their faces were accidentally pushed onto each other. I could hear some squeals from a fangirl. I probably just made someone's OTP happen. This was a mess but it didn't end there. No, no, why would my torment end there? I slipped, dropped everything and dragged someone with me and they dragged another 2 people. Oh the dominos fall so quick. And now my glasses were gone again. Everything was a blur. Oh this is what I get for those overdue library books.

"Wow, you've caused a mess." I heard the voice of my punk saviour. I scrambled around trying to find the stupid glasses. He was probably grabbing my stuff. I gave up on my glasses for now though. I needed to get up and off the floor. I was a little wobbly but I was standing. Lukas got up and hand my hand and dragged me around the blur. "You lost two pairs of glasses in less than a week."

"All worth it." I grinned, still not being able to see past the blurry mess without my glasses. I had never realised how bad my eyesight was until now. I guess it partly my fault for straining my eyes for so long trying to read.

"Whatever. We are going to the library. The cafeteria is full of people and some genius let a fart bomb lose and the whole place stinks. That's also why the hallways are crowded as you found out the hard way."

"Okay, I will have to put in my contact lenses though. And I will need your help." I was hoping I had them in my bag.

"You want me to poke you in the eye?" Lukas asked amused. Out of all the questions and places he could have asked to poke this was a weird one but it made sense. I tried to not let my overly-active imagination wonder with that sentence.

"No, just make me poke myself in the eye." We paused the walking. If my vision was clearer, I would be able to see Lukas giving me a slow blink. "Yea, I know it's weird but its more weird you poking me in the eyeball. Unless, you really want to."

"You're poking yourself." He continued hauling my ass to the library. I could hear Tino and Berwald having a conversation, well more like Tino talking and Berwald taking in all the words and try not to get distracted by 'the voice of an angel' that Tino has (His quote, by the way). Emil and Leon seemed to be there too.

"Oh, Mathias! Where are your glasses?" Tino asked. I grinned sheepishly.

"I fell and lost them." I was sat down on a chair and I could hear my stuff been dumped onto the table by Lukas. "So, what's with the gathering? Something happen?"

There was silence at first. It made me worry. I could see the shifting and turning of looks to Lukas that was next to me. I also turn to him. He was a beautiful blur but it was worrying to have all this tension and then everyone stare at him.

"You didn't get suspended, did you?" I asked him trying to focus and fight the blur.

"No, I didn't. Jesus, I'm not that… Whatever." I could hear the offended tone and by the snorts and giggles, Lukas was probably pouting. It made me grin. "Stop grinning like that." He shoved me a little and sat on the only free chair next to me.

"Well, we were discussing the winter dance." Emil spoke up. I made an 'Oh' face.

"And we were wondering if we were all going so we might organise a table or a ride there." Tino continued for Emil who was currently getting stared at by his brother. It was probably a glare more than a stare. I could tell were this was heading.

"And?" I asked trying to get my contact lenses case out.

"And I said I wasn't going and I was giving Emil my ticket instead." Lukas finished it with a small hint of annoyance in his neutral expressionless tone. I put my case on the table and turn to Lukas who rolled his eyes and opened it. "And of course, I'm getting lectured on my lack of enthusiasm towards social events that include other members of society that make me want to hurl."

"He means the touchy feely couples… or couples in general." Emil translated sounding mildly amused.

"I have work that entire after school night, anyways." Lukas was explaining as he opened the lenses case and began (from what it looked like) was getting the bottle of solution out.

"You work every night. You can get someone to cover for you." Tino whined a little. That was true. Lukas worked very hard. Surely, he had friends who worked in that store too.

"No, I need to work. No cover ups that day and its double pay. You kids go have fun." He said turning towards me. "Alright, now to your bad eyesight."

"What are you doing?" Berwald asked, curiously watching (I could see him squint).

"He is gonna help me poke myself in the eyeball." I grinned. There were more snickering and a couple snorts.

"Wouldn't it be easier if he poked you in the eye?" Leon now spoke up.

"Sure, it would. But it is also a little strange." I answered, my cheeks slowly turning pink.

"Or maybe Lukas is being a baby about it. You know, he doesn't like touching frogs and anything slimy." Emil butted in this time. This was new information. That does explain why he was here during the frog dissection last year.

"Oh shut up. They are gross and have that goo thing." I could hear Emil chuckle and Tino giggle. "Besides, I'm not the one that can't look at teddy bears the same way after watching a play through of Five Nights at Freddy."

"I can so!" Leon began to chuckle now.

"That makes sense now—"

"Don't!" Emil cut Leon short. Lukas snorted now.

"Don't embarrass him too much. He is already pink." Lukas was amused too. The atmosphere was so relaxed. It was welcoming in fact. It made it seem as if nothing was wrong and everything was okay. It was nice. "Now, stop distracting me 'cause these things are clear and might fall."

"Wait, are you gonna poke my eyes then?" I asked a little nervous since that meant Lukas had to be pretty close.

"Well, Leon did raise a good point and these are hard enough to get on my finger as it is." He came closer and tilted my head back. This was too close. It was like in the bathroom moment except there were people watching now. So naturally, me being me, I began to squirm.

"Okay but uhh, don't make it hurt. I'm sensitive and might cry if you poke me too hard." Emil burst into a fit of giggles with Leon joining him. Lukas inhaled and exhaled loudly, letting me know that he was amused and trying to hold in a laugh. I could almost hit myself for my choice of words, but, it's what made me hilarious.

"Don't worry, Mat. Lukas isn't the rough type." Tino managed to say with a teasing voice in between giggles.

"I would like to know how you know he is—ouch ow ow ow ow!" I yelped as my cheeks were squeezed together and my eye was poked. Tino was laughing now along with Emil and Leon. Hell, Berwald was silent laughing too. At least I could see with one eye now. Lukas turned away to grab the other lens. "He is so not gentle."

The comment only made the other laugh and Lukas roll his eyes with a smirk. It was good to see him relaxed. It made him look less mature and cold. It was a good side to see. I rubbed my seeing eye a little bit. It was odd not having my glasses there and stopping my finger. Lukas turned back to me.

"Alright, other eye now." his voice was even hinting his amusement. It was amazing.

"Only, if you're gentle with me." I could feel the 4 other pairs of eyes watching and the giggles. Lukas raised an eyebrow this time instead. I could feel myself going red now. See, before I couldn't see how close he was but now…Now, I knew. He leaned down a little. I could feel his gentle exhaling on lips. It was … breathtaking. However, I needed to move and not look at my biggest crush ever lean down close to my face. I knew I was red and he saw too.

"Quit squirming, will you?" He held my face more gentle this time. My face must have been boiling with how much blush was happening to my entire face and ears right now. I could hear the snorts and giggles. Without much pain, he managed to get the other contact on. It must have been my imagination, but his hand lingered on my face for a while and his stare when he was done was also extended. Not enough to be noticeable by others, but I noticed it.

"See, told you he was gentle." Tino commented, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"You look different without your glasses." Leon commented. Lukas handed me my lenses case. I grabbed it but our hands touched and got this electric wave that passed and made me drop the cases.

"He looks the same. And still as clumsy." Lukas said with that absent look again, like he was deep in thoughts. Hi tone held no harshness so I just grinned at him. It's odd. Normally, people do give you the 'you look different'. Maybe he just still sees me as the goofball, with or without glasses. I liked it though. I felt strange as it was without the glasses weighing on my face.

* * *

After lunch, I had classes and had both Antonio and Gilbert come up to thank me for that accidental shove. I guess i must have been their cupid. At least Gilbert had the guy he had been after for some time, Antonio too. They told me they were going to be taking them to the dance. It bought back the conversation at lunch.

"_I have work that entire after school night, anyways."_

I was going to ask him to come to the dance with me. I mean imagine he actually said yes and we went and danced and maybe even walked him home and held his hand. And it would snow and it would be lovely. It's far stretch, but, imagine it.

"_No, I need to work. No cover ups that day and its double pay. You kids go have fun."_

He always spoke like he was an old man. He was younger than me. He looked mature and was strong but, somewhere I know there is a kid in there. There must be. I can't think of how much he must've (and probably still does) go through to end up being so adult-like but, I couldn't let him skip out on the fun. I had to get him to the dance somehow. I tapped my pen on my lips as a smile began to form.

I think I know exactly what to do.

* * *

I am back with an update.

Im not dead but a lot has been happening. That doesn't mean I haven't stopped writing just haven't updates. I have more stories and chapters ahead and this should be the start to more regular updates if not please review my ass to update bc I have zero skills at remembering things.

Im glad people are still reading but today someone reviewed a fic I did months ago and I just went "awww-oh crap. Alrighty time to update!"

So thank you to that someone that did, I don know if they are reading this story so I will keep it anon until I know for sure!

Anyway, let me know what you think about this and what you think the dane is up to. I will be busy updating other fics and writing tonight so expect emails for those that follow multiple of my fics :3

**Review time~**

**221bdeduction** : im glad that this is you favourite fic! Im sorry to keep you waiting for updates!

**Aurorawolf668**: I will never abandon my fics~they are like children to me and so I must update. Like I said, have a terrible memory for things so I have myself to blame for that! Thank you so much for the lovely comments

**Kirin Vlinder**: you review makes me smile oh my god. I had fun reading it and I think I have a message to answer from you. I'm so sorry! Also you can leave your review in spanish, I will be able to read it! Though your English is absolutely amazing! Im so happy you like the story and how I have portrait the characters. To be honest, I have been through some of the stuff they are going though. Not nearly as much but I think it speaks through the characters. As for terry and Daniel, I think they might be here to help. But that still a maybe. I hope you liked the romance here. I put it in on purpose to have a more lifting chapter before the next few. Thank you so much for the love and dedication in your reviews aaaahh

**Guest**: there will definitely be more plot twists ahead so please stay tuned!

**Briana. Schmidt 1**: I'm sorry about the fanslaughter~to be fair I kinda made up for it now? I think I put more fanslaughter but its okay. The show will get started soon. ;3 as for the trios, ironically I have never heard of the unnoticed trio. I know Canada would be there but I'm not sure about the others? I definitely would like to know tho! (so that I can make them less unnoticed and maybe write a chapter or a fic on them)

**CopperTeaLeaves**: backstories are great, I agree! As for Kevin, he has a role to play here and he will, unfortunately, have to come back in future chapters however for now let there be fanservice and momentary peace!

**FireFox Vixen**: thank you for reviewing~ Love summons up the story pretty well I think.


	14. Chapter 14

[Emil's POV]

It was around 6 am. It was the usual morning. My father was yelling. My brother was making breakfast. I walked into the kitchen and a thousand memories flashed by for a second. Memories that I had never recalled existing. Memories that had my mum. Memories of when things were good and life was rainbows and sunshine. Times when there was no storm or rain, just endless rainbows.

My father shoved past me pushing me to the counter and knocking over a mug. It wasn't just the regular mug that Lukas would usually serve his coffee in. No, it was mum's mug. Time seemed to slow down as the precious mug slipped from my grasp. Everone's eyes, even my absent minded father, were focused on the falling mug. It hit the floor and shuttered into billions of pieces. It didn't just shutter the last few remaining things of my mother. No, at that moment something else shuttered in the atmosphere in the room. I could sense it.

"I'm sorry." I muttered as I began to pick up the few pieces I could. It didn't stop the suffocating tension from building. I looked up ands saw my father with a raised fist, glaring down at me. My eyes widened in shock and then closed my in fear. I didn't know what else to do. I knew what was coming. It wasn't the first time I had seen this. It had never been directed at me but I knew what was going to happen. I was expecting the blow, I really was.

"You don't touch him." I heard a growl from behind me. Something was being hit. I began to panic but I opened my eyes to see my father's fist in my brother's hand. My father's other fist was slapping my brother hard enough to left his cheek dark red almost purple. My brother didn't even make a sound. My eyes welled up. Why couldn't this stop. Stop it. Please.

"You are ungrateful. That's all we have of her. And you aren't letting me hit him for it?" My father didn't even yell. His tone was deadly calm. He kept slapping my brother. This was my fault. Why was Lukas being hit because of me? Why did he always get hurt because of me?

"You're useless." He kept saying to my brother that had kept this house running since my mother died. The same brother that had pulled us out of debt. Same brother that worked his ass of to make sure I was okay and that I had everything. Same brother that took care of me and tried to understand me when I wouldn't talk after mum died. Same brother that deserved infinite amounts of heavens to make up for the sacrifices he had to pull for me and this family. Same brother that took in the beatings. Enough was enough.

"Stop it." I managed to mumble.

"Your mother should have given you up." This time my father punched Lukas. Lukas kept his head down this time.

"STOP IT." I screamed for the first time in years. Everything paused. My father's attention shifted to me. Lukas lifted his head slightly. Hot tears were running down my face. I was angry and I hatred myself for crying because I was angry. There was also fear but mostly anger that filled my system. My chest hurts from breathing hard. I knew I could break into panic anytime soon.

"You don't yell at me, boy." My father began. It was like I had summoned a beast. I was shaking with fear but at the same time I felt anger like no other.

"I CAN YELL IF I PLEASE. NOW SHUT UP AND LISTEN, YOU SAD EXCUSE OF A FATHER. IM LEAVING THIS PLACE AND SO IS LUKAS. GOOD LUCK RUNNING THIS PLACE WITHOUT US." I grabbed my brother's hand and dashed for the door, grabbing our bags and running to the bike outside. I could hear my dad chasing us.

Lukas seemed to understand what was going on and snapped out of it and got the bike running before the bull came running out of the house. He kept driving. Not stopping at school. He kept going. He just drove. I could see him turn to glance at me now and again to make sure I was fine.

I let the air pushing against us cool down my dizziness from my burst of anger before. The scenery changed from building to trees and grassland not too long. I didn't know where we were. I didn't particularly care. It felt so free being here with my brother. More free than it had been in years. There was no worrying about what was going to happened because we weren't going to go back to that dungeon we used to call home.

Lukas drove into a forest. I hadn't noticed how good my brother was good at driving his bike until now. He was avoiding a tree after another. The branches and roots made the ride bumpy and leaving cuts on our clothes. I knew my brother was somewhat crazy and daring but never saw it until now. Before I knew it we were in a clearing he stopped the bike.

It was a grass clearing that ended with a cliff drop into the sea. The sea salt smell was clearly there, along with the sounds of waves crashing into the land below. There were a couple of flowers but they all seemed to respect the cliff and stop at the edges of the forests we just drove through. Birds were flying in the sky towards the endless blues. Their silhouettes disappeared into the scenery. I felt so calm and free, I couldn't help my legs giving out on me and letting me fall onto the grass.

"Do you remember this place?" Lukas asked hopping of the bike and bumping his bag on the floor near the precious bike of his. I looked around and noticed the familiarity was there. I knew this place for sure. It used to be where our mother used to take us when dad had an argument with her. She would always say that it was a safe place for us. I smiled and flopped onto the long thick grass.

"Of course." I mumbled calmly. My brother smiled a bit and laid down next to me. It was comfortably silent between us. There was so much stuff that we had to think about now but it seemed to be left unspoken for now. the peace was soothing. I almost forgot my brother's swollen face. I glanced up and saw that it was indeed bruising up nasty but Lukas seemed to be calm. In fact, he was smiling.

"I always knew you had it in you, you know. I didn't expect this but.. I knew you could do it." He spoke calmly. The cool sea breeze blew by. He glanced down at me and his smile widened a bit. It was caring and warm. How many years had it been since he showed that at all?

"You know…" He began to speak and looked away at the deep shades of blue sea mixing with the light blue of the morning skies. "When you were little, mum said that you were her little one and that I had to take care of you if anything at all went wrong." He had done more than she would have ever thought he would. I knew that she would be proud of him. She would be beyond proud of Lukas. It made me want to cry because I knew as well as anyone that Lukas wasn't going to believe that. Not for a second.

"So, I made it my job to make sure you were okay. To see that you had everything and that no one would mess with you without knowing that they would get something worse in return." He continued. I could tell he was trying to hold himself together. He was never like this. He never let me see him like this. It was upsetting to see my strong big brother that always was sarcastic and ass-kicking, crumble like a pasty. I didn't know if I should hug him or cry.

"When she died… I knew that I had to take care of you even more than before. You were her little one and I couldn't let her precious boy be upset or hurt. I knew she would cry from heaven if she did. I knew I was her son too and she trusted me enough to make it my job to save your ass from situations." He looked down at his hands now. His jaw was tightly tensed as a single tear escaped him. Tears began to well up in my eye again. I could finally see why he would go through all that pain.

"And then dad lost himself. I knew he and mum fought sometimes. But he must have loved her enough to lose himself and let the decent husband he was die with her." He and I both knew that was an understatement. I also knew that dad was indeed in love with mum. I have a few memories of when they were happy. Every morning, it was like the man fell in love with her and would show it in a different way. This one time he made sure everything was clean and ready for us three to have breakfast and he made her favourite pancakes and her coffee was just how she liked it. It was so hard to believe that the same man was the one that had given Lukas those bruises on his face and was about to hurt me.

"Today, you took care of me. And I'm sure the mum would be very proud of her liten Emil. I always knew you were brave. You always had this temper to you. It was unpredictable but I knew it could be explosive like today. I know it's still not the worst that it can do. But I'm not going to let it get to that extend." He looked away and pressed his sleeve to his bruised eye, gently. I could tell that if he was alone he would be crying to himself. I always looked up to his strength in situations like this.

"I'm not going to let you get hurt. Even if you know you could deal with it. Because you've become my snort nose little brother that I need to mother you and spoil you rotten. You don't have a say in this, but, with the absence of both our parents I'm going to step into their shoes. Like I have been doing so for years now, but especially now that we are alone, I won't let any more pain come to you." He finished and wiped his other eye.

My tears fell and I hugged my brother tight. He wasn't sentimental in the least. He hated talking feelings. In fact, he never did. He always kept them to himself and instead listened to me complain about anything that was bothering me. He really had been my parent for sometime now. I couldn't even help the sob that came out halfway through. He was always working and never spoke. He deserved so much. He deserved everything he gave me and more. I knew he needed to talk but he wouldn't. not once, would my brother complain to me about his problems. He always fought through it alone. I could feel his arms wrapping around me and holding me close to stop my crying. I wanted him to be happy for once. I knew who managed to do that and I also knew that Lukas would probably throw a fit. But I knew exactly who to call for help.

We sat on that cliff for some time. It must have been maybe 3 hours. I had fallen asleep on the grass. I was tired after crying. Lukas must have too because he was asleep next to me. I could hear a faint buzzing noise from his bag near the bike. I stood up and went over to it and saw calls from Tino, Mathias and one that surprised (if not horrified) me. Dad had called. It was over and hour ago. But, he had called. I also saw texts from Mathias asking if he was okay.

It was around 11 am which meant it was morning break at school. I quickly got out my own phone and saw Leon had texted and called me as well. However that had to wait for a second. I wasn't about to forget the speech that my brother had given out. I need to make it up to him. So I called Mathias.

"Hello? Who is this?" He said when he picked up.

"It's Emil." I whispered back as a response to not wake my brother up. He was a very light sleeper so I knew I needed to move away into the edge of the forest.

"Emil! How are you? Is Lukas with you? He is away today and isn't answering my calls or texts." I could hear his concern. Oh, if only he heard the speech Lukas gave.

"Um, that's kind of why I'm calling. He is okay right now. But we kind of just ran away from our dad. He hit Lukas pretty bad too. But the thing is that we are kind of homeless at the moment and cant really got to school because my dad might be there and we can't go back there." I was beginning to rumble on. Luckily, Mathias stopped me with a calm and slightly fatherly tone.

"Wow, okay. Don't worry, Emil. I'm going to help you out okay? But I need you to tell me where you are and how long ago you ran away."

"About 3 hours ago. We are in this clearing. I don't really know. But I think we are towards the outskirts of town, near the beach. Don't tell anyone though. It's kinda of a secret spot. But we will be going to a small fish and chip shop soon and I will give you the address to that." I answered looking around to see if my brother was up yet. He was still asleep.

"Okay, don't worry. I will be there too. I'm going to contact a family friend that can help about your dad too. I won't tell them anything too personal or names for that matter but just make sure to stay calm and safe. I Lukas okay?" his tone was actually very calming and warm. Especially since he asked about Lukas. I smiled at that. I knew He had feeling from Lukas and I knew Lukas did too. That's why I called him. Lukas needed him right now, even if he denied it.

"He is sleeping right now. but he isn't okay. Dad said some bad stuff to him. he will be shaken up even if he doesn't admit it. He also sort of cried a little but don't even think about mentioning that to him." I grinned at the chuckle I got as a response. I knew Mathias was beyond worried though. I knew if Leon went though what Lukas just did, I wouldn't let him out of my arms. I blushed at the thought.

"Alright, I will be taking care of this don't worry!—oh and see ya soon, don't forget to text the address!" and with that I hanged up and called Leon.

"Where are you?" He instantly asked when he picked up.

"Good morning to you too." I answered with a smile.

"You're not home, you're not at school, you're definitely not at work and your brother isn't here too. Emil, tell me you're okay and you aren't in a ditch somewhere burying a corpse with your brother." Leon's tone was a mixture of actual dread and concern. I knew he was half joking around. I laughed anyways. He sounded just like Yao when Leon was late home and called him.

"Sorry to disappoint but, no we aren't in a ditch burying a body." Leon sighed in relief.

"Okay, but are you okay? Where are you?" He asked again. This time he was a bit more serious.

"… I'm at a cliff with my brother.. We run out on dad this morning before school. He talked a lot for his usual quiet self.. And we had a brother moment I think.." Leon was quietly listening. It one of the things I loved about him—I mean liked!

"How are you?" he asked. He knew that I would be a mess. I know he will want me to tell him everything in detail later.

"I'm scared… calm but scared."

* * *

And I'm back with a new sad chapter but at the same time its good that they are finally out of the bad situation. I was going to make another episode in between this one and the last one to lighten things up but nothing came to mind.

I'm not particularly in a good frame of mind but its better to keep moving the story along than to focus on problems.

review time~

SatanHerself: im very flutterred this is your all time fav dennor fanfic.

CopperTeaLeaves: Mathias has the best luck :3 As for Emil being brave, yea. I might write that scene later as a flashback. It would be more happier than this scene

DenNorFanGirl: The dance will be interesting. It will be to fairly soon! Terry and Daniel will be back next chapter. a lot will be happening all right after eachother! so stay tuned~

briana. schmidt1: I should have described the glasses better (my bad). But they are round ones with thick frames and thin legs. I know about the frames making someone more attractive or less. Thank you for letting us know about the unnoticed trio! We are actually planning for Matthew to be in the next few chapters. Also Peter will be getting his own story with Norge and Den as his uncles!Im so glad you enjoyed last chapter!

Hanatamago2204: yea the age gap thing is a continuity error. Mathias and Lukas are 17 ish and Emil is 15 ish now that I'm thinking about it. Just because of the romance parts making me uncomfortable if they were younger.

Terry Daniel and Kevin are my OCs. I didnt want to go for the typical move to make russia or another precious character the bad guy. I love all hetalia characters I cant make them the bad guys.


	15. Chapter 15

[normal POV]

The fish and chip place was a small family owned restaurant. The service was a little slow but there was never really many people on a week day at noon going down to the beach. The chips on their own we're amazing here. They had that freshness that you normally don't get from fast food restaurant. The owner often have school kids a discount and a bag that would be the equivalent of two large order on a place like Mc Donalds was at $2. As for the fish, it was freshly caught that day from the beach not 500 m from the place.

Emil grinned at the options on the menu above the cashier. He loved fresh fish much like his brother. They often fought over the last bits of mackerel when they had the chance to have some. He also knew was Lukas was going to order. He walked to the register to find it was empty. He looked around and then saw the bell with a small note under it saying 'press for service'. Emil frowned a little suspicious off the small shiny bell but pressed it any ways.

The ringing of the bell died down and then when Emil was about ring again a small kid around 10 years old with a sailor uniform pop up from under the register with a grin. Emil jumped a little feeling his heart runaway and a shriek leaving him and embarrassing himself. Lukas walked in just to see that happen and snorted.

"Hi! What would you like to order?" The kid asked bouncing a little with excited to see people. He had a name tag that said 'Captain Peter'. Emil looked warily at the kid.

"Uhh.. Two Mackerels with one large chips and one $2 chips... With calamari rings.. 12 rings." Emil said looking at the menu. Lukas sat at a table listening to the order and raised an eyebrow at the 12 calamari rings. It was odd out of the order. Emil only orders that when Leon joins them sometimes on the trip to the beach on summer days.

"Will that be all?" The boy chirped with happiness writing the order. Emil nodded, taking out his wallet to pay.

"Okie dokie! That's.. Uhhh.. Where is the calculator?" Peter mumbled as he searched around the register. Emil pointed at the side of the register and Peter giggled and took it muttering something along the lines of "silly me." He quickly pressed the buttons and did a little bee line around the kitchen setting things to cook and stuff before running back. "Oh! Sorry, that was $23! The calamari are at 50¢ each and the mackerel at $7 each."

Emil handed him the money and then added $5 to the tip jar. Peter beamed with more happiness if that was even possible and put the money in the register. "Thank you so much! Your food will be ready soon!"

Emil joined Lukas at the table. Lukas had a small smirk on his face. Emil pouted knowing his brother was probably going go on saying how cute that was of him and he didn't want that happening in public. He was already red in the face from being startled by a kid, he didn't need more embarrassing moments today.

"So who's coming?" Lukas asked staring at his brother with amusement. Emil looked at him and then at his phone that was beeping.

"Uhh.. Someone.." Emil answered not looking at Lukas. The oldest raised both eyebrows now and then narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Emil... You better tell me now who." Emil shifted in his seat a little, trying to hold back a laugh. Lukas was now suspicious but also knew his brother wouldn't tell him until the mystery guest arrived.

"Your order is ready!" Peter chirped walking to them with their order on a tray. The food was steaming a little as it was freshly cooked. Emil quickly cleared the table. He was a waiter at a restaurant so he knew what it was like to have a tray full of hot food. Peter grinned and put the tray down on the table and skipped off to the back again.

Emil began to eat ignoring the stare his brother was giving him. It was always more fun watching the reaction he was going to have when Mathias got here. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long before the door opened and the little bell at the top door rang to alert everyone that someone had come in. Lukas and Emil looked towards the door and there stood a worried nerd with big blue eyes being framed by his glasses, his bag and a dishevelled getup and hair. Lukas' eyes widen a little from surprise. Emil grinned until he saw his best friend walking in behind Mathias with a smirk on his face as he spotted Emil.

"There you are! Thank god I brought Leon. I got a little lost." Mathias sighed in relief as he got closer.

"What are you doing here?" Emil butted in before his brother could talk. Of course his question was directed at Leon, who grinned and sat beside Emil.

"I'm being a life saver and being the map for the dork over there who was freaking out. Why upset to see me?" He gestured to Mathias who puffed is cheeks a little and went red. Lukas snorted. Emil blushed a little at the question.

"No.. i just didn't expect you to come.." Emil muttered with his cheeks still transitioning to a nice ripe apple red colour. Lukas raised an eyebrow at the two but decided that asking questions now was probably a bad idea since he wouldn't get any answers.

"Sounds just like him. I'm more surprised to see you ditching class than being here to be frank." The punk decided to take the coy approach to the surprise and happiness to see that the nerd was here. Mathias took that a signal to sit next to him.

"I can ditch class! Why is it a surprise that I ditched class? That's the third time I have been told that it's surprising to see me ditch clas-MMm!" Mathias replied but was interrupted by Lukas shoving a chip in his mouth to make him shut up. Emil and Leon laughed as a response to the pair.

"The chips are amazing! You don't have to- MHmm!" Mathias began to talk again but got more chips shoved into his face.

"Any ways, thanks Leon for making sure you got to the right place. What are you both doing here though?" Lukas asked feeding Mathias with more chips. Mathias tried to out chew the speed that Lukas was feeding him at without think about it too much or he would go red in the face.

"They are helping us out." Emil answered. Leon nodded in agreement. Lukas looked at Leon for a little and then at Mathias that had just finished chewing. Both boys were there to help them. They had come out of class, risking getting in trouble to help them. Guilt began to invade Lukas, as he somehow found it was his fault they were in this mess. He felt like a burden now. First needing his brother to pull him out of the house and now having to find the heart to rely on these two. He felt weak and guilty.

"I'm not taking no as an answer. You guys are coming with me or Leon but we aren't leaving you alone." Lukas glanced at Mathias who seemed to have read his mind and then looked at his brother and Leon. Leon smiled a little

"Yao, said it wouldn't be a problem but whatever you feel comfortable with. You know, since I do have more siblings in the house and stuff." He offered.

"No I can't do that. Yao already works pretty hard to keep you guys together." Lukas replied rather seriously. Leon nodded and smiled a little more.

"Then it's my house!" Mathias announced almost jumping out of his seat. Lukas turned around and frowned in disagreement. "My parents are okay with it since they aren't at home for most of the year any ways. I don't have any siblings and my house is pretty big. You can't say no." The nerd grinned triumphant.

"Of course I can say no, you bookworm." Lukas replied in a feint insulted voice.

"You can but you have no reason to." Mathias replied quickly. Emil giggled at the scene in front of him. Leon too was amused.

"Shut up and eat will you." Lukas shoved the rest of his food I front of Mathias. The victor relished in his triumph.

They had spent the entire day out by the beach, it was late November so it was freezing there. But the smell of the salty sea waters gave the four boys a sense of freedom. It was only 3 pm and the sun was already setting. The day had gone just as it had come and now there was more hope for Lukas and Emil. They bid goodbye to Leon after they drove him home. Yao was at the door waiting. Leon promised to tell him all about it once they got inside.

It was now Emil, Lukas and Mathias at the entrance of the Kølher house. Mathias hadn't been joking when he said his house was big. The brothers had their mouths gapped a little. It was a double story house with a fountain at the front and possibly a garage that could fit two cars.

"you weren't kidding about the space huh?" Lukas spoke a little too shocked. Mathias shrugged it off.

"both my parents own busy businesses overseas. It's kinda expected I would think." Mathias shrugged as he opened the double doors for them. He turned to face them with a grin from ear to ear. "Welcome home, guys"

The inside was more luxurious than the outside. The outside was like a humble simple but the inside was extravagant and held the very essence of the word 'luxury'. The rooms were like the ones the boys had only seen in crafts magazines. The furniture all matched, the frames from the windows matched the frames of the door, the curtains even had a thin veil to block direct sunlight. The scent that engulfed them was of pine trees like a forest with a hint of vanilla drifting in now and again. It was warm and felt like the right place to calm down after a stressful day.

"Let me show you to your rooms." Mathias grinned a little amused by their dazed expressions. He lead them upstairs where the moods changed. The doors were different colours and design but the frames for the doors were all the same. There was a carpet on the hallway and there was a small table with a vase and a painting above it. There were also pictures hung on the walls. Mathias walked to two doors one navy blue and another a soft beige then turned to them and grinned again.

"You can pick and swap if you want mines the red one and the orange one is my parent's"

Mathias watched the brothers exchange looks and timidly reach for the doors, Lukas the blue one and Emil the beige. Both rooms were clean but the colours themes were different. Emil smiled and turned to Mathias, checking that his brother was in his new room. "You know you should talk to him. He was talking before; you might be able to get him to talk to you some more." Mathias' cheeks turned a soft pink as he tensed up a little with nerves but nodded. Emil grinned and left them to it.

"You like it?" Mathias asked the punk getting used to his new room. The walls were a soft blue and the furniture white.

"Reminds me of a place I know." He replied still not turning to look at Mathias. Mathias began to walk closer to catch a glimpse of the expression on Lukas' face.

"Is that a good thing?" Mathias asked quietly but so curious.

"Depends how you look at it." Lukas said finally turning to Mathias. His expression was calm even had a slight smirk growing. The smirk, of course, left as their eyes met and instead it was replaced with its usual shield that didn't let Mathias see what's really going on. Lukas looked away to the window now. "You don't have to take us in you know. I mean, we are thankful. You wouldn't believe how thankful, but I also don't want to be here because you feel compelled to help." His eyes must have hit the light because the colour in them was more vivid somehow.

"What makes you think I feel that way?" Mathias asked stepping a little closer. Lukas turned to look at him straight in the eyes. It was a breathtaking site, the vivid colours showing in more detail, Mathias could see the fairest hints of purple in those irises.

"It's a habit of yours. You tend to help other before thinking about what that means." Lukas replied blinking a little and then stepping back a step, realising they were rather close. Mathias smiled looked away a little. Was it really a habit? He hadn't noticed. He knew he was helpful but that it was a habit, he didn't know until now. Lukas was looking at the floor.

"I mean, if you thought about it, that means you are willing to spend more than school hours with me and Emil in that case." Mathias blushed a little at the idea, not that Lukas was looking at him. He had probably thought about this fact the most of all. Seriously, to be able to live with your crush. It was an intriguing situation. Lukas, of course, was now considered a friend though. Which meant he was crushing on his new 'friend'. At least, they weren't strangers or Lukas wasn't aware of his existence at all.

"Emil, I understand, he is enjoyable to be around and will probably get you hooked on a tv show. You can talk to him about anything and he is willing to listen and have a conversation about it. But me?" Mathias frowned a little now, suddenly realising what Lukas was suggesting. There was s silence as Lukas kept his head down. "I'm not the best at much at all."

"Lukas, you don't actually think that I don't want you here right? I mean I was making excuses just to see you after school the moment we first got to talk to each other. And so what if you think you aren't good at stuff. Hell, do you have a clue the piles of things you're actually good at?" Lukas looked up now a little surprised by the little outburst. Mathias looked away a little and then back at him with a gentle smile. Of course, the punk quickly covered his surprised with a side smirk and looked away. Mathias went red on the face. "Well, you know like… you're wanted here and you're amazing… and stuff anywaysgoottago."

Mathias turned around and walked to the door when a thin but strong arm held him back. Everything stopped for second and seemed to slow down. Lukas leaned closer and kissed his cheek. It wasn't hard or rushed. But it was like the softest feathers had touched his face and ignited a wild fire of excitement everywhere. Mathias could only stare back at the punk in front of him opening and shutting his mouth in attempt to ask about the kiss. Lukas smiled this time and began to leave.

"Whatever you say nerd."

* * *

Million apologies, guys! I have been so busy with things but i have a new laptop and have chapters almost done! just working on details since if you guys haven't noticed the chapters are getting progressively longer! but i have lost this chapter twice and then had chrome crash on me whilst i was editing adding this section and adding in minor parts.

(TT u TT)9

I'll be starting uni in 3 weeks which gives me time to write around 4 to 7 more chapters and edit out big mistakes or story errors to half of those 4 to 7 and post them

AAAAAA so much to do! but any ways! as per usual thank you for everyone following and joining in and read and writing reviews. You wouldn't believe how much I have missed posting.. it's been a tough last 3 month for me but now enough about me and more about you guys!

**Review Time!**

**Kirin Vlider:** aaaaaa! dont feel bad! your reviews are amazing and always make us log on just to continue reading because of how well you pick up on detail!

as for the contact lenses scene.. ;) expect it to be seen again but in Lukas' POV. I'm working on it but I'm adding it in hopefully soon.

also I'm glad that the last chapter was of your liking. they do deserve so much more than what they have there. also I like it that you picked up on the brotherly thing! I hope this chapter was okay though because the dynamics have changed a little now that they are more relaxed. Lukas will still be protective and caring and always put Emil first but now they have tie for typical and normal brotherly bickering and maybe even time to bring out memories and probably Lukas can talk to Emil about both Leon and Mathias.

Since Norway is a silent character I want to focus on that and maybe point out that it might be because he just doesn't know how to talk about his problems. in most cases with abuse at home, kids tend to shut those problems in. Especially since they are being blamed for stuff they didn't do and such which is basically Lukas. So, I will be working on that. Of course, Emil will be showing some of that too but it wont be as much considering his main problem in Kevin. but yea! detail!

the cross idea I love, but I have something planned for that. it will be heartbreaking probably but! I have been writing and I have thought about making other high school AUs. of course they will be different but ill consider them for then!

also , i will take you up on that offer!

**Guest2: **Hello lovely guest! you sound very awesome! you can be addressed as awesome1 if youd like! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter! and im sorry it took so long to update but I'm back now! hope this gets to you!

**CopperTeaLeaves: **I totally agree that the dad should totes be punching himself but he will be back later on for more heartbreak :') also youre very welcome about the bad guys thing! i equally hate it, tho some stories are pretty good with it like that, unfortunately ;n; i hop this was happy though. i tried to make it as happy as the situation they are in allows. next it will be the dance and then the christmas and then i might head into a bit of angst.. maybe ;u;

**briana. schmidt1: **im glad it was a good read! and sorry for those mistakes, i tend to edit at like 2 am so its very questionable sometimes. also Russia to me is like a big fluffy bear cub. you wanna hug him because he is adorable but he is also a bear and that would be a bad idea. still simply cute!

**selene-la-lune:** Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this one as much as the rest!

**norgesass: **when i first read you username i didnt know if it was norge sass or norge's ass but i was very amused but thank you so much! i'm only gonna make thi ridiculously sweet for the next 3 or so chapters! :3ccc

**thelordofabsoulutelynothing: **aaaaa! thank you for commenting on the development. i think about the storyline a lot and how im going to build on it and its simply wonderful to hear someone compliment on that! also my apologies for being away for so long! and thank you so much for commenting a couple of days ago. it really kicked my butt into editting everything and getting it out for you guys to read!thank you so much for the compliments!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**_3 days ago_**

[Berwald's POV]

The winter dance. The winter dance was in a couple of days. Days. I had been procrastination off asking him out for weeks now. I wanted to say something like 'I think you're really great please go to the dance with me.' But it's so hard to say it. I mean since our last walk home in the rain, we have been walking home together every day. The weather had been getting colder though. So, sometimes we go to his house first and his mum would make up hot chocolate to warm us up. Sometimes we went to mine and played video games until I had to go to tutor. So why was it so difficult to ask him out to the dance?

"Hey, Ber. Waiting long?" His voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Tino was wearing a blue and white Christmas jumper over his black jeans and combat boots. I noticed that he has been wearing less piercings as of late but today was the opposite and he was wearing them all. He looked great as usual. He asked me a question though so I shook my head.

"Hey I like your jacket. It looks nice and warm." He smiled. He was being nice. The jacket was an old boat coat mum got me two years ago when we went back to Sweden for a small family trip. It wasn't that nice it made me look like a child in their parent's jacket back then but now I guess it fits well.

"Thanks. I like yer jumper too." I pointed at the reindeer pattern. He chuckled and looked down at his jumper.

"Thanks! I'm expecting a different response though. It's not every day a guy who wear black and leather changes up to warm fuzzy Christmas jumpers but it's the first of December so it's important." He grinned looking back at me. Why was he so adorable?

"It suits yer." I said as we walked to school. The walk wasn't always like this. Normally, Tino is talking about something new. I like hearing him talk and I'm not really good at talking so it works out well. Tino smiled at the compliment but didn't say anything else. I glanced at him a little from time to time to check why he was so silent.

"so, are you going to the dance?" He asked looking up at the clouding sky. It was starting to snow lightly. Some of the snow was already falling on his hair and face making Tino's nose and lips become a dark pink colour. I was mesmerised until Tino turned to look at me. I couldn't look at him directly right now my face must be red, I felt it.

"Yea.. me neither.." He hummed talking my looking away a 'no'. I glanced at him a little. He was pouting lightly. I could feel my heart beating so fast. I wanted to say it right now and just telling that I wanted to go with him but it was like my mouth was sewn together.

"It's a shame though.." he paused his walk so naturally I did the same. "I have two tickets." He took two tickets out of his pockets and looked up at me. Suddenly a grin appeared on his face whilst I was still processing what was happening. What did this mean? Was he asking me to go with him? "You wanna go with me?"

His face was super red; hell my face was too. He just asked me to go **with **him. Tino asked me. I'm sure I must be dreaming and I swear if my alarm goes off I might just break the new IKEA clock. I was about to open my mouth and say I'll be more than happy to go with you but what came out was:

"Happy to I go with you.." and then I tried to clear it up. "I mean yea, I'll be happy go with you." Tino was trying not to laugh, I could see that. But he had his cute small smile. His eyes were back on me with a grin again. I get the feeling like I should get used to that look.

"You know.. I also happen to have two tickets for the movies for Saturday night… and I happen to be for the new star wars.." Tino grinned stepping a half a step closer. He had a compelling offer. Im pretty sure I could sneak out Saturday night. Mum wouldn't make a fuzz of me missing out on the antique show. Dad would so be home early that day anyways. I can definitely make it Saturday.

"Yea, I.. I can make that happen." Tino looked away a little.

"As in, you and I.. like a date." He clarified still not looking at me. I might just faint.

"I know." He looked up instantly and bit his lip a little. Not that I was looking there. He might have been playing with his lip piercing. A chuckle left his lips and then leaned up and kissed my cheek.

"You coming to school or what?" He asked holding my hand with his much smaller ones. I couldn't say anything but just nodded.

**_2 days ago_**

"So, what are you guys doing about the dance?" the dane asked during breakfast at the brothers who were barely awake.

"Working." Lukas replied groggily. Mathias looked at his bowl of cereal.

"I don't know.." Emil answered chewing on some toast.

"hasn't anyone asked you, Emil?" Emil went red and buried his face in his cup. Lukas looked up from his coffee and looked at his brother.

"So Leon asked you?" Lukas asked with a sleepy satisfied smirk. Emil pouted a little and nodded.

"But I don't have a suit so.. I don't know.. and those things look weird anyways..." Emil muttered the last part. Mathias chuckled lightly.

"Hey I have heaps. They might be big on you though, but we can go to the place I got it from." Lukas glanced at Mathias for second.

"Seriously? You're getting me to go buy a suit?" Emil asked surprised and sarcastically. Lukas had tried for years to get to him to go for years and each time Emil had refused. Even to their mother's funeral. Suits weren't an Emil thing and Emil wasn't about to go making them.

"Everyone should have one! They are important. So yea I'm going to drag you to that shop and get you fitted." Lukas snorted with an amused smirk with Mathias being so serious about a suit. Emil groaned a little. Mathias grinned a little too.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure Leon wouldn't be able to talk much." Lukas almost choked on his coffee as Emil spat his toast out fully red. Mathias began to laugh loudly as Emil just got more and more red and Lukas seemed to be beyond amused, he was smiling. Mathias stared at Lukas for a bit, giving time for Emil to recover.

"Like hell he won't. He won't shut up more like it." Emil answered a little bit annoyed that now it wasn't just his brother teasing him. He glanced at his bother and changed his mind however. At least his brother was smiling. Even if it meant that his nerves would be pushed and poked at more often than usual.

"Seriously, everyone loves people in suits. Smart and sharp look looks good 11/10 times." Mathias replied. Lukas rolled his eyes and Emil pouted again.

"What about you, are you going to that dance?" Lukas asked the nerd. Mathias shrugged a little not looking at Lukas or Emil in the eye.

"Nah, I have a date with my Xbox and a lord of the rings marathon. It's the only marathon I willingly run." Mathias replied with a grin. Lukas scoffed with an amused smirk.

"Nerd to the bone." Lukas mumbled. Mathias smiled.

"you're free to join me when you come back from work." Emil grinned to himself. Ah like fanfiction in real life.

"thought you said everyone likes smart and sharp." Emil muttered with a smug look. Mathias looked confused for a while and then went red. Emil was implying his brother. the oh-so-hot punk siting not that far looking at Emil like he was more crazy than usual. Emil shrugged smirking. "Anyways, I'm catching the bus with Leon. I'll see you guys at school."

**_Now_**

The school gym is normally a place most kids dread. Sports is a pain no matter who you are. But tonight it was different. Tonight it was the opposite. Everyone was anxious to be there. It was an important night for teenagers. The winter dance was the only dance the entire school was allowed to gather for dancing and a night of fun. Most picture it a magic and perfection when they describe it but that wasn't the case. No, it wasn't like the movies. It was stressful and no one was going to die if they didn't attend. However, it was the one night you could go and have fun in school grounds. And that is a rare occurrence.

"I still can't believe you got me to buy one of these tacky things." Emil pouted at Mathias as he pulled his light grey blazer on. It matched his slacks and white shirt. Mathias grinned and chuckling as he was in his pyjamas playing Assassin's Creed already. Lukas rushed downstairs with his leather jacket on his arm and his work uniform on.

"Emil, Is Leon coming to get you?" Lukas asked getting his bike keys and wallet. Mathias paused his game

"You're going too?" He asked getting up and going to the coat closet by the door.

"Yea I will be late if I don't leave now. It's starting to snow." Lukas was pulling on his jacket. Mathias handed him a scarf. Emil was watching from the living room grinning a little. Lukas gave Mathias a look and Mathias rolled his eyes with a grin and put the scarf around him.

"You're going to get sick if you don't take the scarf." Lukas rolled his eyes but there was a small smirk at the corner of his lips and went out. "Okay, have fun at work and drive safe." Lukas just turned around and shook his head as he went to his bike. Mathias grinned and shut the door.

"So you're going to get the surprise ready?" Emil asked with a mischievous grin.

"Yep, Thank you for helping with the measurements and getting the music." Mathias rushed to the living room and started moving the furniture. Emil grinned and started helping move the furniture with Mathias.

"Honestly, you just have to ask him out." Emil sighed getting the coffee table out of the room and had Mathias behind him with an arm chair.

"Easier said than done." Mathias replied getting out of breath quickly due to his asthma. Emil frowned a little.

"what's up with the wheezing?" Emil asked concerned.

"oh, I'm asthmatic and cold weather doesn't do me well. But I'll be fine." Mathias shrugged a little as they walked back into the living room and they both moved the big sofa to the window.

"Well, you're lucky Lukas doesn't smoke." Mathias paused for a bit. Did Emil not know? "He wouldn't even look at them because of how mum died."

"What?" Mathias stopped now. This was a lot to process. So Lukas smoking was a secret that Emil didn't even know of… and their mum had died from cigarettes? What was happening?

"Yea, mum died from second hand smoking. Dad once again but yea." Emil said clearing up the floor and putting a CD into the radio. Mathias didn't know what to do with this information. Like, he needed to tell Emil but he also knew that if he did he would get skinned alive by Lukas.

"Oh… I didn't know that. I'm sorry." Emil shrugged a little.

"Its fine. You didn't do it so.. yea. But it's good to know." Mathias bit his lips shut. And the doorbell went off. Emil stood up straight and fixed his shirt and his tie. Mathias decided to forget about this and just act like he never heard Emil utter the words that he just heard.

"That must be Leon." Emil looked a little dazed and nervous. The dane grinned and went to get the door. Leon stood there with a black suit with a thick black coat over it to shield him form he freezing weather outside. Leon looked up at Mathias a little surprised. Mathias grinned at him.

"Well, don't you look formal." Leon smiled a little.

"Is Emil ready?" Leon asked a little pink from embarrassment.

"You're lucky Lukas left for work already." Leon raised an eyebrow and then grinned back at Mathias who was chuckling away amused. Emil got his coat and looked at Leon from behind Mathias. They gaze instantly locked with each other. Mathias stepped aside with a smug look.

"you look.. formal." Leon tried to talk. Mathias patted Emil's shoulder who rolled his eyes at him.

"Have fun you two." Leon offered Emil his hand and Emil took it, only glancing back at Mathias and mouthed a thanks and goodluck. Mathias grinned a bit, happy for those two. "Don't be too late home."

The stadium had been drastically changed to its usual grim reminder of the 'fun' games like dodgeball. The usual basketball hoops we're currently being used to hold up a massive elaborate tent that had was what the most important area. It would seem that Francis really out did himself this year. The tent inside and outside were amazingly elegant. The fabric was white and the lights were a beautiful light blue hue making everything have a winter look instantly. The tables were all dark blue with a warm centre light piece. The proud French was talking to the Dj at the very front, possibly flirting. He was probably telling him to watch out for the smoking machine under the Dj table. There was honestly so many cables that Francis had to call in a favour from Gilbert and get Ludwig to organise and clear it up. And last but not least at the centre of the tent much like the tables, there was a large light decoration made of one main floor light source and lots of fabric coming up to the highest point of the tent and also out, like a giant bloomed rose. By doing that with the fabric, it dimmed the bright light and made it look like sheets of ice over each other. Whisky the smoke machine gave the illusion of cold. Clearly, Francis hadn't been joking when he said that it was all about presentation.

Emil and Leon were at the front and joined Tino and Berwald waiting in line. Tino was looking really good with his piercing still in and tattoos peeking out the neck and sleeves like enticing you to want a closer look. Berwald was very much enticed. Tino's suit was white with black dress shirt and white tie whilst Berwald was wearing light blue and a bowtie. Emil grinned at Leon as they watch the wo love birds talking and hugging to keep warm. Tino looking up at Berwald with a beautiful smile and looked completely focused on Berwald. Leon and Emil almost felt bad for interrupting.

"So the surprise is set and ready?" Tino asked with mischief on his tone. Emil smiled and nodded.

"He is ordering 4 boxes of pizza and making the punch by now. Lukas is going to either refuse completely or go along really embarrassed. I wish I was there to see it." Emil pouted a little.

"Best to leave them to sort things out on their own." Berwald added glancing at Tino a little. Francis approached them suddenly.

"Ah! Hello! You guys all look so cute and in love! I was wondering if Mathias was ready for my friends to come in and help with the surprise." Francis smiled looking at the couples happily.

"Yea, he should be. Thanks for this Francis. Seriously, you must be so stressed." Tino looked at him a little worried.

"Non non, I'm fine! I'm used to organising big events." Francis winked and then grinned. "I'm just glad to help those two together because it's like watching Feliciano and Ludwig try to say they are only friends."

"I'll call him to tell him your friends are on their way then?" Emil asked finally realising how serious he needed to get Mathias and his brother together.

"Oui, I will also be heading over there to make sure it's all perfect. But go ahead and go in, your table is number 4." Francis pointed at it and then dashed off.

Emil got his phone out and decided to make the call whilst they went inside. Leon was holding Emil's hand still, not wanting to let it go and relaxing in its warmth and the way their hands just seemed to perfectly fit each other.

"Hey Mat, Francis is on his way there and he is bringing help. Just make sure it's all cleared and don't exhaust yourself." Leon sat on one of the seats as they got to the table. His other arm went around Emil's waist and his face leaned into Emil's side. Emil rested his arm around Leon's shoulders blushing a little at the sudden contact in front of people. Mathias was talking on the phone but Emil's mind was clearly on Leon and all about Leon. "Mat, it will be fine. Just keep him smiling and everything will go as planned. I got to go though. Good luck.."

Tino and Berwald decided not to interrupt the romance clearly happening and instead Tino dragged Berwald over to the punch bowl and getting a drink. The music currently playing was slow indie music you'd normally hear on the way to school on the radio. Everyone was slowly drifting in and taking their seats.

"They look so cute." Tino cooed a little at the other duo on their table being affectionate.

"About time that happened too." Berwald commented with a bit of surprise as he hadn't imagined Emil or Leon as the type to be affectionate in front of people.

"Do you think Lukas will like his surprise?" Tino asked a little worried. Berwald leaned down and kissed his cheek softly causing Tino to look up and smile at him and wrapping his arms around Berwald's waist.

"They will be fine." Tino smiled bigger at the reply.

* * *

AAAA okay i wont do review replies on this one bc i'm posting again in like a couple of hours after i edit the next one but i just needed to splt this into tow chapters of it owuwld have been more than 7K words holy crap!

bUT I WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE THE REVIEWS HAPPEN SO QUICK HOLY CRAP!

thank you so so much! so i will be right back with the next one which will be like taking a shot of pure liquid sugar

its so sweet and adorable i was crying and writing but that's the best way to write!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lukas had just gotten out of work and it was 9 pm in a freezing winter night. He had been waiting tables of a restaurant fancy restaurant. Between snobby rich people telling him that they wanted an order specially made and emphasised the word 'fresh' and parents who couldn't get a babysitter last minute so they decided to bring their misbehaving kid to a very adult place, he felt like crap. He hated the customers but the manager there had been understanding enough to hire him the moment he turned 15. The pay was also good considering how most restaurants worked. Honestly waiting tables at a restaurant can really fascinate you or completely exhaust you but most times both. That's when Mathias came to mind.

Mathias was definitely rich and yet he wasn't like the people he had been waiting tables for, for almost 3 years now. Mathias was very different. Sure in some areas it showed he had grown up with money but he was still able to be modest and simple. It was confusing to think about it but Lukas was surprised and thankful that Mathias was nothing like the people he had to take food orders that asked the water to be fresh Norwegian and have their corn-fed chicken steamed and not boiled. It was ridiculous.

He was making his way to the car park at the back of the restaurant where the employees parked their cars and what not only to find the people he wanted to see least in this entire world next to his bike. He paused 10 meters away from his bike.

"What the fuck are you two doing here?" Lukas growled at Terry and Daniel who turned to face him.

"Calm your shit. We are here to tip you off." Terry's tone was a mixture of pissed and offended.

"Yea, when Hell decided to freeze over and declare they aren't taking up for business, I'll believe you." Lukas replied in a monotone pushing passed them to get to his bike.

"Lukas," Daniel grabbed his arm which made Lukas turn and glare at him intensely. Daniel sighed looking genuinely concerned.

"I know you have beef with us and you have every right and reason not to trust us but, look. Kevin isn't alright. He is pissed and he wasn't to really hurt you." Lukas narrowed his eyes a little, suspicious of this information. Daniel glanced at Terry and continued. "He wants to hurt you in a way that will hurt a lot more people than just you. Starting with Emil and Mathias. Look, I know that you don't trust us. But we aren't asking for that. Just keep those two close to you. Even if you don't want to, you and Emil were once our friends and Emil was like a small brother for Terry. That's why we wanted to warn you."

"Stay away from Emil, Mathias and me. If you wanted to help, you should have done that years ago. You don't know half the crap you've made Emil and I go through Let alone Mathias. If you really want to help now. Stay away from my family." Lukas seethed with his anger boiling away and bubbling acid on the restraints he was putting himself not to grab Daniel by the collar and slam him into the car next to his bike. Terry sighed irritated.

"We are staying the fuck away. Fucking hell. Come on, Dan. I told you it wasn't going to work. Don't come crawling for help when Kevin tears your boyfriend a new hole." Terry was pulling Daniel away but Dan resisted.

"Wait," He looked back at Lukas looked down to their feet a little. "Seriously, Kevin might actually hurt them. Take our warning or not. But be precautions." And with that the two left the parking by climbing the fence and jumping over it. Lukas watched the two leave. He couldn't take those two serious. No, they always lie and weasel their way around things. Then again, Terry doesn't normally risk his ass on something nor does Daniel look at him or Emil concerned at all. Maybe Kevin was off his head.

The freezing breeze reminded he wasn't home yet and was out in the cold when he could be inside watching a movie with the nerd at home. It was amazing how he found it so easy to call what was Mathias' house to home. It was relaxing to think about it alone, let alone the warm it never seemed to engulf him when he was there. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he was thankful he was thinking of home and letting this meeting escape his mind. The ride home was very cold. It was only the 10th of December and riding the bike felt like risking getting frost bite on his face and fingers. A thin layer of ice coating his leather jacket and scarf that Mathias had made him wear. So, When Lukas saw the drive way he was more than pleased to be home.

However, there were car tire prints on the snow of the drive way of at least two cars which made him frown. He put the bike in the garage and glanced at the car Mathias' usually gets driven around in. He took his glove off and felt the hood of the car and narrowed his eye even further sensing that it was freezing so it couldn't have been Mathias going to go pick up something from the store. He took his helmet off and placed it on his bike as he moved out of the garage and closed the door to not let any snow get in.

The house lights were off except for the living room which had a little bit of blue light coming out of the tops of the curtains. He figured it must be Mathias watching a movie like he said. He got out his keys and opened the front door only to find the stairs railings were decorated with fairy lights and the usual open living room had a zipped door entrance with a sign on the door. Lukas closed the door quickly and began taking his jacket and scarf off and shoes, not to dirty the house with snow. He stepped closer to the note on the zipped door.

'_You should shower and then come back :3'_

Lukas looked done with the note already and grabbed it off the door with a groan and went upstairs. He wanted to know what was happening in the living room. This was not helping the warning that the two idiots put in his head as he went upstairs he noticed that the decorations didn't stop and the fairy lights were on the wall and there were more notes on the doors. Right now he just wanted to find the Dane and make his explain all of this. It was amazing work but what was even happening.

"Mathias?" He called out as we walked closer to Mathias' door and noticed the sign on the door.

'_No I'm not here.' _

Lukas took the note off the door admitting only in thought that this was rather elaborate and wanted to know even more what was happening. He went to the orange door and then to Emil's door only to find more two more notes.

'_Nope, not here either'_

'_I know I'm driving you up the wall with this it's actually hilarious to write these.' _

Lukas sighed slowly to get his frustration and mild annoyance out as well as a suppressed laugh. This was something to try on Emil. He then reached his door and read the note on it.

'_Congrats! You finally got here :3 good to know you're listening to the notes~ just kidding, please don't kill me when you see me D:'_

Lukas took the note off his door like he had done with the previous notes, this time with a smile forming on his face. He couldn't even get mad at the nerd any more. He was able to predict where he would go and everything. He really needed to prank this nerd soon to get him back for this because this was worse than being pranked and taunted by Emil. The punk walked into his room only to see more of the fairy lights on the wall like vine growing and spreading on a brick wall. There was a note on the door to his bathroom.

'_You should shower~ you'll have a surprise waiting when you get out.' _

"What more?" Lukas muttered to himself as he took the note down and put it together with the ones he had collected so far. He walked over to the neat desk he had and placed them on top of the immaculate table. He smiled a little looked at all of them together and headed for the shower closing the door behind himself and making sure to lock it to maybe mess with the nerd's plan.

The shower warmed him up, though he knew his hands would forever be cold. He felt more relaxed too. He walked out of the bathroom to his bedroom with a towel around his waist allowing his tattoos to be out on show over his neck, back and arms. On his bed rested a dark blue suit with matching slacks and a black dress shirt with a patterned tie that mixed three different shades of blue in a silky material. Lukas began to play a little with his snake bite piercings. In particular, the one to his left. This was far from modest and he knew that Mathias would have the usual culprits for this but even then it was a lot to set up without him noticing, in a ridiculously short time spam too. He had some idea as to what was in the living room and his heart was beating like a drum playing the usual Ramones he listened to.

Downstairs, inside the living room, Mathias was a train wreck of nerves. Francis had come in along with Gilbert, Antonio and Alfred to help set everything up. It was done in the spam of 1 hour with those four in a hurry to finish to pick up their dates and so on. Mathias had never seen them work so diligently alone let alone with each other. They all did get box of pizza for their help and Mathias now owed Francis a favour but it was all worth it. If he had done it by himself, he wouldn't have finished. He had put up the decorations inside Lukas' bedroom and made the notes after they had left. He was really anxious about what the punk would thing of the surprise. He was in a classic suit and tie all black with a white dress shirt and also managed to get in the contact lenses by himself. He was amazed by how much he got done in the late 30 minutes before Lukas was due in. He could hear the footsteps on the stairs, making his stomach turn itself into knots with anxiety.

The zipped up door of the small tent Francis had made; the size of the room was a replica of the one at school only this one had more fabric hanging down different coloured to catch more of those colours of winter. Gilbert had helped wire everything so that it wouldn't cause a fire hazard whilst Antonio had hang the fabric and Alfred brought in the metal frame of the tent and Francis composed his masterpiece. There was pizza and punch on a table and the radio with the speakers around the room there was fairy lights coiled around the wrapped metal frame and the ceiling. Lukas pulled the tent door aside to walk in. Mathias watched the amazement in Lukas eye as they danced with a mixture of admiration and daze. Mathias noticed that the suit was very befitting of the punk, even with the sleeves rolled up that exposed the delicate yet intricate line work riding up and into the safety of the suit. He could tell the surprise was a success.

Lukas walked in looking at everything around him. This was way too much. This was so much. Mathias had done all of this, the little rascal. Before he realised he was in front of the dork who was looking at him with a god damned grin from ear to ear. He was conflicted whether to punch him or hug him or both. The options were there and all he could do was stare at the dork with his face heating up. Who told him to take the glasses off? damn it.

"I got bored of the Xbox." The massive dork spoke up after at least 5 seconds of just staring at each other. His face was also turning red but it looked purple under this light. Lukas opened his mouth to say something but found that he couldn't actually say something so he just let out an exhale of air that carried with it a laugh, letting out a smile you'd normally see the Dane in front of him pull when he is looking at Lukas. He put his hand over his mouth and continued to shake in a fit of laugh. Mathias' eye widened a little and couldn't help joining in and smile like a child when they get to see the snow slowly falling on Christmas day. Lukas' laugh was contagious and his smile more dazing than the Dane had anticipated. He bit his bottom lip and got closer and slowly tried to pull the hand covering the smile. Lukas tried to hold in his laugh but the Dane's grin made him crack up again and leaned into his shoulder as he burst into smooth chuckles. Mathias shook his head and rested it on Lukas' with a smile on his face so radiant it put the sun to shame.

"You're a loser. Most people would so something like read or draw or maybe watch a movie. But you form an intricate plan to make me somehow still go to the dance." The punk pushed him away a little but with a smile on his face not wanting to leave any time soon. Mathias sniggered like a kid knowing how good his mischief had gone.

"loopholes. They are the most vital thing ever." Lukas shook his head trying with all his might to stop smiling but he was too happy, he physically couldn't without bursting into laughs again.

"I can't believe you got both Emil and I in suits and ties." Lukas shook his head remembering that detail. Mathias had a smug look on his face completely satisfied with his achievements today.

"smart and sharp. AND it's also not rentals so it's yours forever." Lukas sighed a laugh again.

"Well thank you, I will wear it only on the most special of occasions." Lukas replied sarcastically, trying to regain his usual shield of sarcasm and nonchalant expression. Mathias was so close and he was so warm with his arms almost around him, it felt safe enough to smile and laugh. It felt safe again after so many years. It felt like heaven holding him close yet, not having its arms around him. He could also fear that this was all fake and would vanish as soon as the sun came up but it was warm and safe again and that sensation that was killing his distrust like a strong acid melting through the walls he had been building for years.

"You're very welcome, good sir." Mathias replied with a grin going along with the sarcasm.

"How will I ever repay you." Lukas asked with the same manner of speaking but being a little serious. He felt the need to do something for this loser that seemed to do anything for him. This loser that made him feel so special, warm and safe in a winter night. This complete dork that seemed to be hitting on him subtly and passing it off with subtlety or as jokes.

"You could dance with me. I mean you could, you know.. like suggestion.. not a demand." Mathias rubbed the back of his head blushing. Lukas stared at him a little with a small smile on his face.

"you better pick a song then" Mathias looked back almost instantly. Lukas gave him a raised eyebrow to challenge him. Mathias grinned and dashed off to the stereo. The nerd put play and flicked through the songs stopping at a song Lukas knew too well.

"_I see trees of green,"_

The song began to pull Lukas into a memory of a long time ago. When Emil and he were little. A memory of their mother singing this softly to them when she had had a fight with their father or the brothers were scared. It's a song that Lukas still would hum to himself when he was in trouble, though it would be the Ramones cover. It completed the sense of being safe and the dork didn't even know. He knew instantly that this was Emil's doing.

"_Red roses too."_

Mathias grinned at him as he walked back slowly. He took Lukas' hand and placed his other on Lukas waist, swaying with the slow beat. Lukas placed his free hand onto Mathias' arm trying not to hum along to the song. This was almost like a slice of heaven been handed to him after years of hell. It was too good it was scaring Lukas that it was just a dream and that he would wake up and be back on the floor of their father's house passed out from being hit too much or too hard. With a pool of drool and blood and shards of broken glass around himself.

"_I see them bloom,"_

"you're really quiet. I almost expected a remark." Mathias spoke softly. The hand on Lukas waist moved to his back to hold him a little closer.

"_For me and you."_

"I would but it would ruin the song." Lukas muttered almost whispered to his ear. Mathias' heart was going crazy. His thoughts had stopped dead on their tracks with a simple whisper. It's either they stopped or his mind was melting away with a frenzy of emotions.

"_And I say to myself,"_

"I'm glad you really like the surprise. I was nervous you wouldn't." Lukas stared at him a little and snorted looking away. Only this dork could possibly do something as big as this and think he wouldn't like it. He wasn't one to believe in god but he was begging god that this was real. That he could finally have some happiness in his life. That this moment wasn't a bittersweet realistic dream. He leaned onto Mathias shoulder and closed his eyes a little, swaying with the dork, letting lead the way.

"_What a wonderful world."_

Mathias held Lukas close. He didn't understand the sudden silence and affection—if you could call it that. He was so used to the punk in his arms being cold, I was such a difference to how he was now. Not that he didn't like it. No, he liked this a lot. It was surprising to see him open up though. His body was already oozing with happiness, he couldn't erase that smile and laugh Lukas let out. He was too cute and he could barely handle the urge to kiss the guy on the spot.

"_I see skies of blue,"_

The thought of someone being with him like this had never occurred to Lukas. He was always busy and there was the fact that he had an abusive homophobic father and he was gay. Still, it hadn't come around until now.

"_And clouds of white."_

Maybe it hadn't been the right time anyway. But now that he was here with the dork swaying to a song that meant so much to him. It was beginning to get harder to deny that he might be falling hard for this dork. And a lot harder than he anticipated.

"_The bright blessed days,"_

The lyrics didn't help. He was opening up instead of hiding away. But did Mathias even know what he was doing? Not that it seemed to bother the nerd in the slightest. He just seemed to take him and care for him for what he truly was.

"_And the dark sacred nights."_

Lukas opened his eyes at the sound of Mathias humming along to the song. The dork seemed to be enjoying this too. The blues seemed to be his thing. Something about that made Lukas smile a little.

"_And I think to myself,"_

He didn't know about accepting things right now. But this dork seemed to know exactly how to make his smile appear. Hell, this guy could make him feel like he was in heaven. And he didn't wasn't going to admit it aloud but he wouldn't mind kissing him right now or later for the matter. He was comfortable and safe in the arms holding him. And that's a feeling he never wanted to lose again.

"_What a wonderful world."_

* * *

OK

proper A/N now

so this song always came to mind when i was writing this fanfic. So i felt it needed to be important.

our nerd is succeeding at courting our punk and its so adorable. Now i had to post this together because it doesnt make sense otherwise and i didnt being like being a butt and making you guys wait a week for this.

next chapter is christmas tho and expect it to be emotional kinda

primarily bc our nerd is always alone on christmas.

(unrelated side note to the fanfic tho, i am writting a zombie apocalypse au thingo its focus will be mainly on Lukas and Emil's brother bond. but there will be icehong and DenNor later into the chapters as expected! so if youre liking the brother bond i suggest following me for when i do post that fanfic im currently writting and editting the first couple of chapters)

Anywyas! **Review Time**!

**221bdeductions: **your review arrived to me when i woke up from after posting the fanfic and i had the best morning ever i swear it was so adorable omg its an honour to be considered someones favourite fanfic author and honestly im so happy

**thelordofabsolutelynothing:** aaaaa i cant believe you read it multiple times! i wish i couple see the usernames of the poeple that do read the fanfics so i could know but thank you thank you thank you aaaaa 3 more days until orientation im slowly feeling it settle in. but yessss progression is happening an im so glad!

**TooAwesomeToCare61:** ahhhh hellos thank you so much also im glad you can relate to the character! and youre welcome!

**thatOfvirk:**im glad you love it! im so sorry youre cryin g on the inside and i hope these two chapters in one day will satisfied your heart :3cccc

thank you to all the new followers and people putting this in their favourites and stuf. im actually so hapy right now bc i can finally get into writing some skinny love and inanskdnaks finally!~


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Christmas time was around. It was the night of the 23rd to be exact. Emil was in the living room playing an intense Mario cars match with Mathias whilst Lukas was sitting between the two reading a book, occasionally having Emil or Mathias interrupt his reading with angry competitive comments being thrown around.

"Don't you dare throw banana peels!" Emil growled as he moved along with the cursor to tun his vehicle. He was playing as Yoshi and Mathias as princess Peach. Mathias laughed and pressed to throw turtle shells instead.

"You ASS" Emil shouted as his vehicle swerved off the road and instantly making Mathias win. Lukas snored glancing up at the screen from his book.

"Serves you right for the rude spikes from last round." Mathias grinned at Emil and then glanced at Lukas for a bit and noticed the book. "whatcha reading?"

"Great Expectations…" Lukas replied, not lifting a look from the book. Mathias raised an eyebrow. Emil put the controller down.

"I'm getting coffee, you two okay?" Emil pouted a little as he spoke still sore from the lost of that round.

"I'd like one." Lukas spoke up. Mathias grinned and shook his head at Emil only to glance back at the punk with the thick old book in his hands. Emil rolled his eyes and smirked as he walked off. He was definitely going to take his time making the coffee.

"Didn't know you were into classics." Mathias leaned in a little to the punk who looked up a little at him and he rolled his pretty indigo eyes.

"I read as much as the next guy. Nothing special." Lukas mumbled to the nerd.

"You know, you should totally read aloud." Lukas gave Mathias a look. The nerd smiled a little as they began to stare at each other. They had been doing that more often since the surprise dance. It was also harder to break the stare. Not that the nerd minded one bit. He could help but stare at the night sky in the indigo eyes. they looked at him curiously and also with small hints of another emotion that Mathias couldn't quite read but it made him want to wrap his arms around the punk and bury his face with little soft kisses.

"Why would I read aloud?" He asked making the nerd blink and look away with pink invading his cheeks.

"You have a nice voice. And I'd like to hear a classic read by a punk like you." The nerd replied with a grin. Lukas scoffed a little not believing the compliment for a second, but still going red slightly.

"Get an audiable." The punk remarked with a smirk going back to his book. Mathias grinned and chuckled softly. The darth vader theme song went off suddenly, causing Lukas to once again look up from his book and for Mathias to squirm as his phone vibrated on his ass. This, of course, ignited both curiosity and amusement in the punk a he watched the nerd grab squirm enough to fall off the couch and answer the call whilst he fixed his glasses.

"Hej mama." His tone was different. It was anxious and excited but also hopeful. Lukas was intrigued. He hadn't met Mathias' parents but from what their son had said about them, they are very busy people leading different lives than their son. Mathias glanced his way which signalled the punk to look back at his page and try to read but clearly watch the nerd interact with his folks. "Ja, I'm fine.."

"Ja, I have been taking my medication." Mathias switched to speaking in danish. Though because Norwegian and Danish sounded fairly similar Lukas could still understand what was being said. He frowned a little at the mention of medication. What medication did Mathias take?

There was a long pause as Mathias seemed to be getting lectured over the phone about how important this medicine was. Lukas could hear a few words now and again and Mathias looking up at the ceiling and shaking his head mouthing 'why'.

"Yes, I'm listening.." The punk snorted as Mathias continued to shake his head. He didn't know how lucky he was to still have parents that cared but it was comedic to watch the usually happy go lucky boy next to him turn into a lectured child. Mathias turned to face Lukas for a bit with a grin on his face appearing. Lukas lifted an eyebrow at him as a silent signal asking what was up with the face.

"My friends? Oh they are okay. The dance was also a blast apparently." Mathias had a smug grin as the punk's face went a few shades of pink at the mention. It had been two week and the dork was finding any excuse to dance with him again or bringing up the dance in the living room. And now he was mentioning it to his parents.

"No no, I didn't go, but I had an amazing night." Lukas grabbed the cushion he was laying on and threw it at the nerd's face. A snigger escaped Mathias' mouth and he grabbed the cushion and hugged it as he talked on the phone. Lukas turned to have his back to the nerd, without knowing that his ears were as red as his face.

"You want to meet my friends?" Lukas looked over his shoulder a little as the surprise in Mathias' voice seemed very genuine. Mathias was looking at the TV screen as he heard his mother speaking. His face going a little red so suddenly, making Lukas more than curious as to what was being said.

"Well, are you coming for Christmas?" there was silence and then Mathias' mood suddenly dropped. Lukas turned a little. Mathias looked apathetic about what was being said to him like he had heard it enough times to make him sour and bitter at the same time.

"I assume new years is off too then.." Lukas shut his book slowly. He could feel a hint of anger in Mathias' tone. He hadn't seen Mathias like this. It was unsettling and honestly angering how bitter such a happy person could get.

"No, it's fine. Have fun with dad as usual…No, I'm not angry. I'm not even mad or sad. I always spend it alone anyways." The cushion in Mathias' arm was being squeezed closer and he had turned his face away from Lukas. Emil slowly walked to the door of the living room and saw the tension. His brother was on alert mode and anger was radiating off Mathias. He walked closer to his brother and handed him his cup of coffee just like how he liked it. His brother normally, downs it in one gulp if the book is good or takes his time if it was building up. But right now he put the cup down on the side table and signalled Emil that it was best not to be here. Emil nodded and left without a word. He knew that Mathias wouldn't do anything to his brother. The nerd was more likely to cry than yell at Lukas, after all.

"You're not going to call on the 25th either.. Okay, you know what? Happy holidays to you two. I'm always alone so thank you for that. Even on the holiday that's meant to be about family. Godnat."

With that Mathias hang up and left the room, not even thinking about anything else. He walked back to the back yard and went straight into the freezing cold. His head was boiling and as soon as he was outside it seemed to cool. The dane walked in the snow with his bare feet and grabbed some off the floor and put it on his face to calm down. His chest was beginning to hurt. He didn't know if it was because he was angry, upset or his lungs screaming at him to get back inside because of the change of temperature. He kept rubbing snow on his face until the hot tears began to stream down his face.

This was every year. They had forgotten his birthday 3 times and countless of Christmas and new years. Let alone the countless of math tournaments and other achievements he had accomplished. It didn't matter how big the achievements were. He found that out when he was 12 and received the young academic achievers and his parents didn't show to the award ceremony. He didn't care about how cool the gifts he got were. What's the point of having cool gifts if your parents aren't there to thank for those gifts with a hug or enjoy the simplicity of their presence?

It wasn't fair. Then again, he knew he shouldn't complain and will probably have to apologise later on. Right now it didn't matter because he was hurt. Hurt by the lack of care that his parents had about him and seemed to be driven by money. It was beginning to be look like he needed to book an appointment with his parents just to see them. It hurt so much that the hot tears were melting the handfuls of snow he had pressed to his face. His chest was beginning to tighten up though. He was chocking back his sobs but might actually start coughing and wheezing soon.

He heard the backyard door open and close. He couldn't face Lukas right now. He was still angry but it was more hurt and was probably going to cry pathetically. Lukas was a good person with enough problems of his own; he couldn't possibly talk to him and dump his problems on him.

"You shouldn't be out without a jacket." The punk placed his thick leather jacket on the clearly hurt man next to him. He sat next to him ignoring the snow melting under his butt and causing his pants and underwear to begin to get damp. Mathias was still cover his face though now that his back was covered by the leather jacket that suited Lukas so well; the leather jacket that held that scent that was unique to Lukas, that jacket was now on him. It was warm, so warm.

"Lukas.. you don't have to—"

"Mat, have you ever had a snow fight." The punk interrupted Mathias before he could continue. Mathias was silent for a bit and then shook his head.

"Ever build a snowman?" once again Mathias shook his head.

"How about snow angels?" Mathias shook his head more slowly, unsure why this was being asked.

"Yea me neither." Mathias looked up at Lukas finally. His eyes were red as well as his nose, lips and chin. Lukas was watching the snow fall slowly into the already white backyard. His expression was calm and serene. Mathias could admire that calm nature forever. Every time he saw Lukas it was like it was the first time he had seen him. There was a long pause between them. Mathias was trying to find the right words to ask why Lukas had asked those questions. The punk had been glancing at him now and again trying to read what was going on until he decided to break the silence again.

"Just because we have different reasons for not have done those things doesn't mean mine are better reasons. Therefore, why should there be any reason stopping you from talking about it?" Lukas said turning to face him. There was strong sense seriousness in his tone but Mathias could feel the comfort that he was trying to pass subtly. It made him smile again. He wanted to think of this as Lukas telling him to rely on him, that he wasn't going to belittle his problems no matter how small they may be compared to his own. He wasn't going to compare at all. He wanted to think of it like that but he still wasn't sure. He had never talked about this with anyone besides commenting it subtly to Berwald every once in a blue moon.

"Okay." Mathias mumbled through a sad smile. Lukas got up and extended his hand to him. Mathias gladly took it and let Lukas lead him back inside to it warmth along with their cold hands that seemed to ever be warm with each other present. Mathias felt calm again. It usually took the entire winter holiday break to stop mopping but Lukas had taken that away in minutes. They were heading for upstairs. It was late, so it wasn't a surprise.

"Change to your pyjamas first. We both have soaked pants." Lukas remarked amused when they got to Mathias' door and the nerd was still holding his hand. The latter blushed a fair bit and nodded, hesitantly letting go of that warm hand that was keeping him calm.

He figured Lukas would come into his room so they could talk, though after crying he was tired. Like hell he was going to miss out on spending time with Lukas though. He will fight his sleep until Lukas was content of his happy levels. That being said, he changed his pants to his comfortable Marvel comic sweat pants and a button up flannel Star Wars shirt. Mathias could feel his nerves relax at the thought of spending time with Lukas.

Lukas came in not long after. Mathias was sitting on his bed reading the comics on his pants for the umpteenth time. Lukas' pyjamas were an old Ramones shirt and grey sweatpants. He walked over to the other side of the very large bed and sat next to Mathias who was fidgeting with the legs of his pants so he could read it and distract himself from the fact the Lukas was on his bed right next to him fully clothed but, on the bed right next to him.

"Did you want to start with telling me about the medicine you mentioned?" Mathias winced a little remembering that part. He decided to lay down for this. He was tired and his chest was bothering him.

"She was talking about my asthma medication. I have a fairly high chance of a severe asthma attack if I don't take it during winter. Mainly because of the cold weather or something like that." Mathias replied rubbing his eye a little that was itching with sleep. Lukas looked away a little and nodded. Mathias could see the guilt from the very nice angle he had. Mathias watched him for a bit. He could see Lukas was waiting for him to continue at his own pace. So Mathias gathered all the might he could summon to tell the punk what was going on.

"Mum and Dad have always left me at home ever since I was old enough to go to school. I have had countless of nannies taking care of me for years." Mathias began a little shaky. He hadn't explicitly told someone about this. And he was starting to get why.

"When I turned 14 they decided I was mature enough to take care of myself and so they gave me money for the expenses I would need for like school, food, transport and they paid the lot." Lukas' gaze softened a little. Mathias couldn't look at his eye right now though. If he did, he would stop talking to admire them but also desperately try to read them and then freak out if it not what he expected.

"At first, and I mean the first month. It was alright and pretty cool until they began missing my birthday and holidays. Sometimes I don't see them for half a year before they decided they should probably check that I'm alive and I'm eating right. They only stay here for a month or two at a time, sometimes less. This one year I didn't see them at all until my birthday the following year." Mathias glanced at Lukas a little who was listening with a warm feel to his eyes.

The nerd decided he needed affection or physical contact. It was nerve wrecking doing this. Especially, since he would usually solider on with all of this. He snaked his arms around Lukas' waist and hid his face into Lukas' side. The punk didn't shove him off; he instead let his finger explode the wild hair.

It was an odd occurrence for Lukas to be hugged but Mathias seemed to like it. It was beginning to be a normal thing, in fact. Mathias would surprise him out of nowhere with a hug, but it was always shy yet friendly. This one was pulling the punk closer than he normally would be with this dork. As Lukas ran his finger through the dork hair, Mathias leaned into his touch with his eyes shut and let a hum escape.

Lukas could almost hear the remark Mathias was probably thinking which made him smile little. It didn't seem to matter that it was almost always silent. It seemed that they would only ever be like this in silence, when it was jus the two of them alone. It was odd to Lukas. He usually disliked anything that involved anyone in his personal space. But this was nice. It made him want to do this more often. Have the Dane in his arms that is. He definitely didn't mind it. Admitting that in his head alone brought him back to the thoughts when they were dancing two weeks ago. Usually the only craving he had was of a cigarette but those thoughts made him crave this affection from the nerd.

"You know, I had to take a cooking course. Because my parents didn't believe that I was decent enough to use the kitchen without burning it down?" Mathias suddenly spoke, taking Lukas out of his thoughts. His tone was more amused now and less upset. Lukas snorted a little.

"How did that go?" Mathias looked up a little.

"Well, they thought that I was the instructor and we made potato cake." Mathias laughed. Lukas chuckled shaking his head which made Mathias grin even more.

"You should lay down, you look tired.." Mathias commented as Lukas yawned covering his mouth. It was odd for him to feel tired at 10 pm. He usually didn't feel it until 1 am. Mathias emphasised his argument by wrapping his right arm around the punk to weigh him down and pull him closer. Lukas rolled his eyes a little with a tiny smirk on his face.

"Fine. But if I fall asleep it completely your fault." Mathias grinned and let the punk get comfortable by his side. It always managed to feel so great in his presence.

"Of course… thanks by the way.. you really didn't have to come and talk to me." Lukas turned to face Mathias with a 'really?' face as he said that. "Okay maybe I did need to but.. I don't usually do get to discuss my parents to people."

"To be fair you haven't really talked about them until now. So you could say I was a little curious." Lukas replied glancing away a little due to their faced being rather close. Mathias smiled a little.

"Guess I should. I mean the little time that they are here, it's stressful but fun. See, mum is a very happy and outgoing person whilst dad is more quiet and reserved. They are also very affectionate and stuff so they have me running away from the living room when they do that…stuff." Lukas snorted at the childish way Mathias was being when explaining his parent's affection towards each other.

"They also decide to have a lot of family time when they are here, and want to meet all my friends. Until now, they have only ever heard of Berwald being my friend and they send presents for him and stuff as well as sending my presents." Mathias continued, feeling the punk slowly relax more and more as he spoke.

"They seem very keen on meeting you and Emil by the way." Lukas hummed softly and turned to face Mathias a little.

"Why is that?" Lukas hummed again a little drowsy. Like he had taken sleeping pills and were beginning to kick in, but he knew for a fact that he hadn't taken those in years. He was so comfortable and warm it was hard to not feel free enough to sleep. He felt free. That's the word to describe it when he was in Mathias' presence.

"Well, I mentioned you have a motorbike. Dad like them but mum has always said that he had to spend more than 6 consecutive months in this house before she was letting him get one. My dad is pretty clumsy so it's out of fear he might hurt himself." Mathias stared at the punk whose eyes were half lid and had a smile on his lips. He couldn't help but lift his hand to softly stroke the pale cheek that lid up pink as soon as his finger's made contact with Lukas' skin. The warm hand slid until his palm was cupping that pink cheek and his finger reached the hair line and caressed there gently. Everything was so gentle and soft. Their hearts unknowingly sped up, pumping adrenaline and small doses endorphins. It changed the mood a little to a more intimate that neither Mathias nor Lukas seemed to mind. They were rather close and were so comfortable with each other yet it seemed to be a game of who breaks first as neither one of them wanted to be the first to say anything about this.

Lukas decided to close his eyes and enjoy the way the warmth from Mathias' hand spread around him. Even if he hadn't been the one being comforted he still managed to feel like he was the one that got more out of this than Mathias. Maybe it was because of the new found feelings that were screaming at him to be known. Or perhaps the way the dork seemed to melt away the years of harshness in seconds of soft touches and little kisses. God, he needed to get a grip of himself. He was starting to sound like Tino when he talked about Berwald. But he knew he would never would go ahead and mention it aloud like Tino, so in his mind he was free to make those little comments.

Mathias watched as the punk that was formerly known as cold and scary; smiled yet again and the always pale cheeks turned a soft pink. He could stare all day but the urge to kiss him and be super affectionate was ebbing away the restrain and fear that he would be rejected. He knew he would want more of this the moment they began; the way that there wasn't a need to talk, or a need to ask if he could talk about his problems. The way they could be this close and be this affectionate like they were two children playing on thin ice, knowing if one stepped on the wrong are the floor would break and they would fall.

"Hey, let get into bed. It's cold." Mathias whispered softly to the half asleep guy next to him. His cheeks burned as he asked. It was like they were a couple and he was asking Lukas to come to bed. He needed to control these thoughts somehow.

The punk opened his eyes half way nodding a little, falling into a spell of slumber as soon as they were under the covers. He could feel the nerd shift closer slowly which irritated him since he was cold. Deciding that the only way to stop the nerd from shifting was to move closer, he pulled Mathias into his arms again. His arms going around the star wars collar and like a cat in the sun, he rolled so that the nerd was on his chest. It was so warm, like the heat in summer but there was the biting cold of winter outside the covers. Mathias was so warm, Lukas almost felt like a snake wrapping himself around him. He was beginning to welcome the sleep pumping in his system.

On the other hand, the nerd was flustered. He was inhaling the scent that made him crazy. The arms around him loosed as Lukas fell into deeper sleep so when they slid off Mathias looked up a little for a second to admire the punk in his most relaxed form and slowly reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth and buried his face in his neck. His heart was running a marathon. He smiled to himself and tried to sleep.

* * *

He guys I'm bak! this took forever to write i apologise but this is worth two of my usual chapter it amazed me how much i wrote! but im already witting 19 already and writing my zombie fic as a side thing

Uni has started now and its like going to summer camp but with free internet and more people to talk about memes with its ridiculous-BUT that means my writting wont be affected as badly as i thought it might be whihc is great!

**Review Time!**

**Hanatamago2204: **them together is what i live for tbh they make me feel so much better after i write them being adorable

**thatOfvirk: **same bro, like im waiting to write the scene and ujfnsjnjkfjkfdnjna its so much stuff thats going to happen im like jfneejnckjcn

**SatanHerself:** Its here! I hope this was cute too! im working on the slow fluff~

**221bdeductions: **I get the feeling with the log in thing. i often read without being logged in on my phone so if i like the story i would either log in to fav or follow or open and new page to look t others and eventully drift back nd follow when not as lazy. but thank you thank you thank you! i hope this chapter was okay!

**thelordofabsolutelynothing:** omg it would be great if you could beta read this fic! i do have to ask, would you be okay with beta reading the chapters that are not corrected? because like you mentioned the mistakes are there and i cant see it but yea! it would be great! please PM me if you are still interested!

**birana. schmidt1: **welcome back! its okay i understand! i have been recently getting into the Supernatural fanfictions and i just finished reading catching up with a 63 chapter fanfic thats still on going! its so good i cant not read it when it updates! also you are russia's adorable sunflower for sure!Thank you so the compliments! i hope this one was just as enjoyable!

**Magical-Norway:** aaaaa thank you norge!


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